Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support childbearing families during the postnatal recovery period following births involving major surgery.

The Government and NHS England remain committed to ensuring safe, personalised, and evidence-based maternity care, grounded in informed choice.

We recognise that caesarean birth is major abdominal surgery, and that recovery can place additional physical and emotional demands on women and their families in the early weeks and months after birth. Whilst there is no specific routine, long-term follow up post caesarean section, all women who have given birth should be offered a six to eight week postnatal consultation with a general practitioner covering both physical and mental health.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on caesarean birth, reference code NG192, makes clear that women require structured postnatal support following surgery, including effective pain management, early mobilisation, monitoring of wound healing and complications, and support with infant feeding and care.

The National Health Service does not attribute the increase in the number of caesarean births to a single cause, as it is influenced by many factors, including women choosing to have a caesarean birth, higher rates of pre-existing health conditions, and more pregnancies involving complications.