Firstly our deepest, most sincere thanks to everyone who has signed, shared, chipped in and commented on our petition.  We feel incredibly supported by you.

For those who have commented on their own devastating experiences or those of family members - we hold you all in our hearts and are so deeply sorry for your pain.

We wanted to share a quick update:

We received a reply to our letters to Steve Barclay from Maria Caulfield MP, in her role as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Department of Health & Social Care.  However, we didn't write to Ms. Caulfield - and her response doesn't address the many concerns we raise.

Therefore, we have collated a response that brings together evidence from as wide and deep a set of most recent data to further evidence that despite efforts to date, safety in maternity is deteriorating.  This includes information from the Child Death Overview Panel, ONS, MBRRACE-UK, The National Perinatal Mortality Tool and The National Child Mortality Database.

Further, we have expanded the data evidenced to include Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as best we can.  The data often isn't as easily accessible.  Some findings from these locations were shocking even for us - such as the huge increases in baby and mother deaths as rates of deprivation increase in Wales. 

Utterly heartbreaking - and frankly unforgivable in what is supposed to be a first world nation.

Finally, we have included those who oversee NHS delivery and performance in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in our latest outreach, alongside Mr. Barclay.  

Each of Britain’s four nations are affected by the same catastrophic failings in maternity.  We therefore maintain that a joined-up national inquiry is required, one that gets to the root causes of failures and challenges – then creates a national plan to redesign services so that they are fit for purpose now and into the future.

Mr. Barclay has set a precedent of seeking to include devolved administrations already in inviting them for talks on how the UK can work together to tackle waiting lists.  Therefore, we have called on him and his colleagues to increase their ambitions, and to support and enable our call for a United Kingdom-wide, publicly scrutinised inquiry into the state, (good and bad), of maternity services that identifies all factors currently preventing Britain from being a safe place to give birth.  

Only then can a national action plan be created and implemented.

We owe it to our nation's children - for their future maternity needs, and we owe it to all the mothers and babies who have lost their lives because of current maternity failings.

If you would like to help us, please do share the petition as widely as you can. Thank you.

Rhiannon Davies MBE and Richard Stanton MBE, parents of Kate who lost her life avoidably in 2009. Kayleigh Griffiths MBE and Colin Griffiths MBE, parents of Pippa who lost her life avoidably in 2016.