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This is very unhelpful and misguided rhetoric from the NHS.

What about the very many (privileged, middle class) individuals who’ve decided that a global pandemic and the resulting pressures on the NHS mean that now is the time to have another baby on the public tax-payer funded healthcare system? There has undoubtedly been a pandemic baby boom among those saying “there’s nothing else to do right now and I’ve always wanted a second / third child...” etc. The decision to get pregnant was made knowing the winter would put additional pressure on the system, as it always does. Only the Scottish government has, albeit indirectly, challenged such thinking.

I know several women having more children in NHS hospitals currently, many as “geriatric” mothers where the risks are higher and the need for further hospital care more likely. Some require cesareans.

Having children is elective. Why aren’t we shaming these individuals and those providing them with care for putting more pressure on the system right now? Why is it correct that they should receive NHS treatment but someone paying privately for cancer surgery, post-cancer breast reconstruction or IVF is wrong for doing so? NHS maternity beds could be used to treat COVID patients, as could the oxygen masks used in birth wards (which are seen my many practitioners as unnecessary for childbirth). Midwives have clinical training that could be used to support COVID wards.

If we are going to shame the private sector and any elective treatment, it follows that we should be also shaming anyone for having non-essential treatment right now, including those opting for and treating pregnancy. Where is the NHS public health messaging on this?