“Delivering the truth: Why NHS maternity care is broken and how we can fix it together” the new book from Dr Lorin Lakasing.
The book lifts the lid on NHS maternity care revealing its broken core and what needs to change.
For more than two decades, the NHS maternity service has been the focus of repeated scandals. We’ve all heard about mothers and babies who are suffering, the staff who are at breaking point, and the huge disparities in standards of care. Time and time again, independent investigations have exposed failures, made recommendations and promised change. Yet things don’t improve. Have you ever thought there’s more to it all than meets the eye? Well, you’d be right.
Dr Lorin Lakasing is an NHS consultant in obstetrics and fetal medicine. She draws on her 30 years of clinical experience in maternity care to give an insider’s view of the current worrying situation and its development, and suggests how we might move towards the safe, effective NHS maternity service that everyone deserves.
“Delivering the truth: Why NHS maternity care is broken and how we can fix it together” is about the stories behind the headlines. In this powerful, eye-opening account, Dr Lakasing reveals the reasons why major stakeholders in this vital service have inadvertently been encouraged to pursue different agendas, and how that has made effective, collaborative working towards optimal clinical outcomes almost impossible.
A safe and effective NHS maternity service is in everyone’s best interests. But for this to happen, real change is needed now. This book is an informed, fresh and hopeful perspective on how we can make maternity care better for all.
Reading this book will give you a deeper understanding of the systemic issues driving repeated failures in NHS maternity care. You will gain an insight into how conflicting agendas among stakeholders have obstructed lasting, meaningful progress. Plus, you’ll have a novel appreciation of the realities faced by staff, mothers and babies within the service. And, perhaps most importantly, you will have a hopeful, informed perspective on what needs to change and how improvement really is possible.
Contents
Chapter 1 – The state of NHS maternity care
Chapter 2 – Background to the modern-day service
Chapter 3 – Service providers – caregiving on the frontline
Chapter 4 – Service organisers – management in maternity care
Chapter 5 – Maternity care safety strategies – why do they fail?
Chapter 6 – Maternity service users – what do they want?
Chapter 7 – When things go wrong: representation and the battle for improvement
Chapter 8 – The consequences of a broken maternity service
Chapter 9 – Hitting the reset button
Chapter 10 – What are the lessons from maternity?
“Delivering the truth: Why NHS maternity care is broken and how we can fix it together” is published on 21st October 2025 and will be available from all good bookshops, and on Amazon.
About the Book:
Title: Delivering the truth: Why NHS maternity care is broken and how we can fix it together
Author: Lorin Lakasing
Pub Date: 21st October 2025
ISBN 13: 978-1-915483-92-8
RRP: £16.99
Format: Paperback; 234 x 156mm
Extent: 288pp
Category: Health and medical
