Commenting on the rise of maternal deaths, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Any death linked to childbirth is a tragedy, and we’re committed to ensuring all women receive safe and compassionate care from maternity services, regardless of their ethnicity, location or economic status.

“We’re investing £165 million per year, rising to £186 million from April, to grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal care across England, and have put £6.8 million towards tackling disparities in maternity care to ensure all mothers-to-be feel safe during and after giving birth.”

“To improve maternity care, last year NHS England published a three-year plan to make maternity and neonatal care safer and more equitable.”

And a representative for NHS England also told Strong Women: “While the NHS in England has made significant improvements to maternity services over the last decade, we know further action is needed to improve the experiences of women and their families across the country and so investment has increased to £186m annually to grow its maternity workforce, strengthen leadership and improve culture.

“The NHS in England has also introduced maternal medical networks and specialist centres, which are a vital step in improving the identification and management of potentially fatal medical conditions in pregnancy, wherever a woman receives care, and to ensure England continues to improve in its position as one of the safest countries in the world to give birth.

“Every local health system in England also now has a specialist community perinatal mental health team, and we recently published guidance to ensure GPs carry out a comprehensive postnatal check-up six to eight weeks after women give birth covering a range of topics such as mental health and physical recovery.”

*name has been changed

Maternal death rates are at their highest in 20 years – and thousands more women are being left traumatised