Dads Shut Out: Could the NHS ‘build back’ better father-support by learning the lessons of the pandemic?

The Covid-19 restrictions that prevented fathers and other partners accompanying women to antenatal appointments, scans, parts of labour – and in some cases childbirth - and either excluded or severely restricted their access to, postnatal wards – cast a long shadow over NHS maternity services.

We’ve interviewed a range of people involved in studying and campaigning around the restrictions, to build up a picture of how the restrictions impacted on families, and the learning we can take from the experience.

This episode is a conversation between Kathy Jones, the Fatherhood Institute’s head of strategy and joint CEO, and Maria Booker, programmes manager at Birthrights.

Kathy and Maria worked together during the pandemic, as part of the But Not Maternity Alliance – which, alongside Pregnant Then Screwed and other organisations and individuals – did the vital work of keeping on top of what was happening with maternity restrictions around the country, during the various stages of the pandemic.

Here they share their thoughts on how restrictions might have been handled differently, and how a focus on high quality support for fathers and partners should be baked in to maternity services moving forward.

Visit the Birthrights website.