Thousands of new mothers are being readmitted to hospital in England every year, figures reveal, raising fresh concerns about NHS maternity care.
Discharging women from hospital prematurely increases the risk of conditions linked to childbirth being missed, and can be extremely distressing. If childbirth injuries or other conditions are not treated until the mother is readmitted days or weeks later, the chances of a complete recovery may also be reduced.
In total, 14,630 new mothers had to be readmitted within 30 days of birth in the last 12 months, which equates to 40 every day. In the most recent quarter for which data is available, April to June 2025, one in 20 new mothers had to be readmitted shortly after being discharged.
The figures, which do not specify why the woman was readmitted, have only been collected in their current form since 2024, making it difficult to compare the rates of readmissions with previous data.
Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson who obtained the NHS figures from the House of Commons library, said the figures were “heartbreaking”.
She also called on Labour to reverse its cuts to the national service development funding (SDF) for maternity services from £95m in 2024-25 to £2m in 2025-26. The fund was introduced after the Ockenden review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford, aimed at improving the quality of maternity care.
The Guardian reported on Friday that pregnant women in England are at growing risk of suffering a serious injury while giving birth.
The number of mothers sustaining a third or fourth-degree perineal tear while delivering their baby has risen from 25 in 1,000 in June 2020 to 29 in 1,000 in June this year – a 16% increase, according to the figures, also obtained by Morgan.
It means almost 3% of women who gave birth in England during this period suffered a serious tear. Such injuries damage the woman’s anal sphincter and cause long-term pain, birth trauma and incontinence. They can also have a “life-changing” impact on women’s overall physical and mental health, cause post-traumatic stress disorder and leave them afraid to have another child.
The figures come after major concern about the poor quality of NHS maternity care prompted Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to launch an inquiry into maternity and neonatal care and set up a taskforce to recommend improvements.
Morgan said: “Behind these figures are heartbreaking stories of women suffering unimaginable trauma at a moment that should be full of joy.
“The Conservatives’ neglect of maternity services was unforgivable, putting mothers and babies under threat, but Labour risks kicking action on this problem into the long grass … The government’s inquiry cannot be used as a shield against taking meaningful action now.
“It is unacceptable that, while so many women die or are injured by poor maternity care, the government raided the key ring-fenced fund for improving maternity services. Their promises to improve safety will ring hollow until they change course.
“If the government is serious about ending the disaster unfolding on our maternity wards, they must reverse these cuts at once, support our hard-working NHS teams, and implement every measure in the Ockenden review without delay.”
Medical leaders called on NHS staff to ensure “thorough checks” were carried out on every new mother before they were sent home.
Prof Asma Khalil, a consultant obstetrician and vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “Maternal readmissions can occur for a number of reasons, such as postpartum haemorrhage, infection, or complications that develop in the days or weeks following birth.
“We’re also seeing more complex pregnancies, which can lead to a higher risk of complications both before and after birth. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the factors that may increase a woman’s risk of readmission and take a holistic, person-centred approach to postnatal care, ensuring thorough checks are carried out before discharge.
“It’s vital that maternity services have the right staffing, training and facilities in place to provide safe, personalised and compassionate care for every woman and baby.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Childbirth can be an incredible moment in a woman’s life, but suffering from injuries, including perineal tears, can leave mothers deeply traumatised.
“This government inherited a failing system of maternity care which is why we opened the rapid national maternity investigation, are setting up a national taskforce and continue to put in place perinatal pelvic health services to reduce the rates of perineal tears.
They said claims of funding cuts in the 2025-26 budget were wrong. “Overall funding has increased by £26bn, and local NHS systems have been given the freedom to spend the funding to best meet the needs of their local community, with the government holding them to account on whether they deliver better outcomes for patients.”
