The Pregnancy, Baby and Parent Organisations (PBPOs), representing thirteen organisations that support families during pregnancy, birth, neonatal care, and baby loss, welcomes the findings of the latest UK Covid‑19 Inquiry report. The report confirms what families, frontline professionals, and charities have been saying since the start of the pandemic: maternity and neonatal services were not prioritised as they needed to be.
The Inquiry’s acknowledgment that maternity must be seen as a high-priority area in healthcare planning is a crucial and overdue step. Throughout the pandemic, pregnant women and people, those giving birth, and new parents faced disrupted care at some of the most vulnerable times in their lives. For many, this led to trauma, unsafe experiences, and, in some cases, devastating loss.
The PBPO fully supports the Inquiry’s conclusion that partners should never have been treated as “visitors.” Partners are an essential part of pregnancy, labour, birth, neonatal care, and early parenting. Excluding them caused unnecessary harm, increased trauma, and took away important support for both parents and babies.
We especially appreciate that the Inquiry recognises the deep impact on those who experienced pregnancy and baby loss during this period, including partners and wider family members affected. Many faced this heartbreak without the emotional and clinical support they deserved. The inconsistent access to partners and support networks made grief even harder, leaving many to handle unimaginable moments alone.
During this time, many also hesitated to seek care because restrictions, mixed messages, and fear of healthcare settings made them unsure if services were accessible or safe. Instead of encouraging timely contact, which is crucial for spotting risks and complications, policies unintentionally created barriers that delayed critical care.
At the same time, remote appointments were often used instead of in-person assessments, even though they were not suitable for many parts of antenatal care. Important clinical checks, emotional support, and safeguarding discussions could not be effectively done over the phone or via video. For women and people with complications, first-time parents, those with limited access to technology, and families facing social or language barriers, remote care widened existing inequalities. As a result, many women and people missed out on timely, relationship-focused, hands-on care when they needed it most.
It is also important to remember that frontline maternity and neonatal staff worked under immense pressure, often facing unclear, rapidly changing, or delayed national guidance. We acknowledge and deeply appreciate the commitment, compassion, and resilience shown by midwives, neonatal staff, health visitors, and all those who provided essential care during challenging times.
Throughout this period, charities stepped in to fill the gaps, providing emotional support, information, and continuity of care when statutory services were unable to do so. PBPO organisations offered lifelines to families in crisis, but charities should never again be required to replace essential maternity and neonatal services.
We stand ready to work collaboratively to ensure that what families experienced during Covid 19 is fully understood, and never repeated.
At the start of the pandemic, government guidance led to the cessation of all face-to-face NHS physiotherapy, private physiotherapy, osteopathy, and chiropractic appointments. Those experiencing pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP) were left with no options for treatment, resulting in severe pain and disability for many. We recorded a significant increase in activity on our Facebook support group and calls to our helpline, as people sought information, support, and guidance on managing their pain without access to hands-on treatment or adequate pain relief.
The challenge for women with PGP is that many of the changes introduced during the pandemic have not been reversed. Since March 2020, face-to-face NHS physiotherapy appointments were stopped, and today many women are still only offered video or telephone appointments, alongside generic exercises and advice. This is not adequate treatment for PGP, which requires hands-on assessment and individualised therapy. The consequence is a serious and ongoing inequity: those who can afford private treatment are recovering, while those who cannot are being left in pain.
While we appreciate the Inquiry’s focus on future pandemic preparedness, we urge equal consideration of the current, ongoing harm to women and pregnant people in the aftermath of this pandemic. The report rightly identifies that remote consultations are not suitable for all patients and all conditions, yet this principle must be translated into action for physiotherapy services. Physiotherapy services must be adequately staffed, properly resourced, and equipped to provide the face-to-face, hands-on care that conditions like PGP require.
As our evidence made clear, women experiencing PGP frequently did not receive the face-to-face assessment needed to plan appropriate treatment during the pandemic — and this remains the case for many today. Since the pandemic remote services have become embedded in practice without the usual due diligence required to assess effectiveness and acceptability to patients as well as clinicians. This approach requires evaluation rather than just continuing because it’s already embedded in practice.
Currently, those who can pay for private face to face appointments and manual therapy are making full recoveries. Those who cannot are remaining in pain, struggling to care for their children, unable to return to work, and experiencing lasting impacts on their physical and mental health. This is an inequality that was created and entrenched during the pandemic, and it demands urgent action now — not only in planning for the next one.
