10:00am UK, Thursday March 20, 2008

Celebrity mother-of-four Ulrika Johnson has slammed NHS maternity services, saying mums-to-be are left 'terrified and alone' during labour.

190 Pregnant baby generic

Are mums being put at risk?

The former weathergirl, dubbed '4x4' for having four children by four different men,said mothers are being put at 'great, great' risk by hospitals.

She said: "Maternity services have become the poor relation of the health service.

"I have campaigned for better care for mothers-to-be but I've heard some truly terrifying stories of women being denied pain relief through 28-hour labours."

She had also heard of women being forced to leave hospital far too soon after birth, with some even requiring counselling after botched births.

Speaking on the BBC, she added: "It's so shocking. In one of the richest nations on Earth we seem to put so little value on nurturing mothers and children."

Johnson, who had all her children delivered in NHS hospitals, said her personal experience had been "variable" but that her care during her current pregnancy had been very good.

But she said many women had told her they rarely met the same midwife twice and the relationship between mother and carer was not developed.

"Too many hospitals are failing to provide one-to-one care from a named midwife and mothers are being left terrified and alone during labour," she said.

Johnson added that the average maternity unit had 31 midwives per 1,000 births, with medical guidelines suggesting there should be 36 per every 1,000.

She said: "I want a charter of mother's rights so that health authorities have a legal duty to provide decent maternity services for mothers-to-be.

"At the top of that list, many more midwives, properly trained, who can give one-to-one care for mothers-to-be when they need it the very most.

A recent Kings Fund report concluded the overwhelming majority of births in England were safe, despite growing pressures on maternity services.