Former Made in Chelsea star Louise Thompson said she feels “genuinely optimistic” after meeting the Health Secretary to discuss her petition to appoint a maternity commissioner and improve care for mothers and babies.
The reality TV star nearly lost her life while delivering her son Leo in November 2021.
In an Instagram post shared on Wednesday, the 36-year-old updated followers on what Wes Streeting “had to say” during the meeting, which she attended alongside Conservative MP Theo Clarke, who co-created the petition.
She wrote: “The first role of any government is to leave something better for the next generation than it inherited from its own.
“After last week, I feel genuinely optimistic that Wes Streeting might do that.”
She added that Streeting told her he was “definitely open to the idea” of appointing a maternity commissioner, which she described as a “big win”.
Thompson said the Health Secretary described their conversation as “timely” as the government awaits the publication of Donna Ockenden’s latest investigation and the Maternity Review led by Baroness Amos, both expected in the coming months.
The former reality TV star said Streeting told her the government was likely to accept the recommendations unless there was a “very good reason not to”.
Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Louise Thompson outside the Houses of Parliament. Credit: PA
The post continued: “I picked up on something else interesting. He dropped in the name ‘maternity safety commissioner’ quite a few times while chatting in the meeting.“Not sure whether it was a slip of the tongue, but that actually sounded like a really appropriate name for what this could and should be, and if they were to agree to it, I know there would be mothers sobbing in all corners of the country who are simply desperate to see maternity care in this country do better for tomorrow’s mother.“Please, Wes, do it for the broken and bereaved.”Thompson said Streeting “made it clear this isn’t a dead end if it doesn’t land immediately”, adding: “Even if the current review doesn’t include it, he could.”
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She has campaigned for improvements to maternity care since the traumatic birth of her son, which caused her to have an emergency Caesarean section after the baby’s head became wedged in her pelvis during labour.
Thompson said doctors spent three hours trying to stop a haemorrhage while she was awake, later suffering PTSD episodes that left her screaming in bed and unable to move.
Following the birth, Thompson had a total colectomy to remove her colon because of ulcerative colitis, a chronic bowel condition which leads to parts of the gut becoming inflamed, and now lives with a stoma bag.
She also has lupus, a long-term autoimmune condition that causes exhaustion and joint pain, and has said she was diagnosed with hydrosalpinx, where a fallopian tube becomes blocked and fills with fluid.
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