In January, BBC Panorama revealed serious concerns about maternity services at an NHS trust where midwives said a poor culture and staff shortages led to baby deaths that could have been avoided.

That same month, the Financial Times ran a piece by the chief executive of the Access to Medicine Foundation who stated “there are far too many avoidable deaths in childbirth”.

Jayasree K Iyer said the global health community “must prove they take maternal rights seriously”.

In November the previous year, the Guardian led with a piece headlined: “Babies are dying – and trotting out the same old excuses just won’t wash”. 

Sonia Sodha reported on how “the shocking state of maternity care in the UK is an indictment of the system and goes deeper than shortages of funds and staff”.

She also reported how analysis showed two-thirds of maternity services inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are not safe enough. 

One in seven was ranked “inadequate” on safety, “with a high risk of avoidable harm to mother or baby”. 

She noted: “Extraordinarily, there has been no national data published on avoidable baby deaths since 2018, when 1,145 babies suffered death or serious brain injury, many as a result of poor care.”

And less than two years ago, the UK media reported how police were examining 600 cases after a damning NHS baby deaths report, and an inquiry into maternity practices at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust that found 201 babies could have survived with better care.