Ministers urged to allow partners to attend all scans for pregnant women expecting multiple births

Access remains patchy
In September Boris Johnson, whose partner Carrie Symonds gave birth during the pandemic, pledged a review of the access partners can have to scans and labour.

Yet there is evidence to suggest that permission for partners to accompany pregnant women remains patchy, depending on the local midwifery team or NHS trust.

Current NHS advice to expectant mothers is to ask their midwife whether they can bring their partners to an appointment – leaving it to the discretion of local maternity teams.

Trusts allow partners to be present during labour and birth, as long as they do not have coronavirus symptoms, but there may be limits on how long they can stay afterwards.

Twins Trust has written to health ministers calling for hospitals to allow all parents of twins, triplets or more adequate time with their babies in neonatal care, and to allow partners to attend all scans of mothers having multiple pregnancies.

Gemma, 42, from Hull said her husband Dan was prevented from attending any of her scans while she was pregnant with twins this year.

She said this was “pretty devastating for both of us”, adding: “It was also upsetting when I was spoken to about [the possibility of] Down’s Syndrome – if Dan had been there I am sure the decision whether or not to have an amniocentesis would have been somewhat easier to make, but I had to go home and talk to him about it. It still upsets me that he could not be part of the whole process.”

Gemma’s twins Cooper and Jacob were born on 14 September. Cooper arrived naturally weighing 4lb 13, but Jacob (4lb 8) got stuck and when they could not find a heartbeat Gemma had to have an emergency c-section.

‘No visitors’
One mother who gave birth to twins during the pandemic told the survey she had “no visitors or support for the six days after giving birth on the ward with my two girls.” She continued: “It was incredibly isolating and exhausting. I look back on it and do feel like it was a hard trauma for me to endure.”

Keith Reed, chief executive of Twins Trust, said: “Multiple births sadly remain high risk pregnancies and having support at scans is crucial as there is often more information to take in and reflect upon.“

“It is devastating to see how much this pandemic has affected the mental health of our families and our Family Support Service saw an increase in referrals of 159 per cent over the summer and remains extremely busy.”