Welcome
GMAG — Gloucestershire Maternity Advocacy Group
GMAG is a grassroots movement and community interest corporation (CIC) standing up for women, babies, midwives, and safe local maternity care in Gloucestershire.
We believe women deserve real choice, evidence-based care, and maternity services that are respectful, lawful and individualised.
We campaign for genuine choice and continuity of carer — protecting safe, accessible and reliable birth services as close to home as possible, so every woman can confidently choose the right place for her birth, whether at home, in a midwife-led unit, or in hospital.
Through research, public accountability, community action, and advocacy, we make sure women’s voices are heard where decisions about maternity services are being made.
Join GMAG and help shape the future of maternity care in Gloucestershire.
Every new member strengthens our voice and our ability to stand up for the women and families of Gloucestershire. Together, our collective voice has the power to demand better, influence decision-makers, and protect local maternity services for future generations.
What is happening?
In November 2025 Gloucestershire NHS suspended their home birth service.
From April 20th, changes to postnatal services were implemented across Gloucestershire. Instead of home visits by midwives who have often been supporting people throughout their pregnancy, mothers will be required to attend clinic-based appointments with maternity support workers who they may never have met before. These changes were introduced without full consultation, comprehensive risk assessment or any statement to the public, and with just three days' notice for staff.
And local NHS bosses have told staff - but not the public - about plans for a single on-call team of up to four midwives to cover all home births and community birth units across Gloucestershire.
These proposals represent a dismantling of community midwifery across Gloucestershire and effective closure of Stroud Maternity Unit by stealth. This is an untested maternity staffing model that will remove community birth as a real choice.
These changes will reduce maternal choice and put women, birthing people, babies and midwives at risk. When a woman chooses a community option she will have a 50/50 chance of there being staffed services to care for her, but she won't know until she is in labour!
Achieving equality of provision across Gloucestershire by making provision substandard for all is unacceptable - these proposals are not a workable solution to the suspension of support for homebirth, or the closure of the Cheltenham birth unit.
Gloucestershire Maternity Action Group is calling for:
An immediate halt to the proposed changes
A moratorium on restructuring until senior maternity leadership is in place
Full consultation with staff and the community
Reinstatement of postnatal services and genuine choice in place of birth
“I stand here today to give a voice to the midwives and support workers at Stroud Maternity Hospital who have been told to stay silent. They’ve been told not to talk to the press. They’ve been told to keep their heads down while their unit is hollowed out. But we know that when the NHS stops listening to its staff, it’s the patients who pay the price.
The Trust says Stroud isn't closing. They use clever words like 'reinstating' and 'modernizing.' But the staff on the ground see it for what it is: a dangerous gamble. They want to replace a permanent, safe, high-performing unit with a 'pop-up' model. They want one exhausted team to cover two hospitals and a massive homebirth territory. You cannot run a safe maternity service on a wing and a prayer!
For years, these staff have watched services be eroded. They saw the postnatal beds shut in 2022. They’ve seen the recruitment failures. And now, they are being asked to abandon their professional home for a model that has zero clinical evidence behind it. This isn't just about jobs—it’s about the safety of every mother and baby in Gloucestershire.
We are here to say: No more. We demand an immediate halt to this rushed consultation. We demand the return of our postnatal beds. And we demand that the professional expertise of our midwives is respected, not ignored. Stroud Maternity has stood for eternity—and with your help, we will keep it that way. Solidarity!
But let’s be clear: Stroud is the frontline of a national emergency. Across this country, midwifery is at a breaking point. We are seeing a mass exodus of experienced staff who are tired of being asked to do the impossible.
The government and Trust bosses talk about 'safety,' yet they ignore the Ockenden and Kirkup reports that tell them exactly what happens when you stretch staff too thin. They are presiding over a system where 'choice' is becoming a luxury and safety is a roll of the dice.
Midwives didn't train for years to provide 'pop-up' care or to work in 'hollowed-out' units. They trained to be the guardians of safe birth. When we fight for Stroud, we are fighting for the very soul of the NHS. We are standing up against a national culture that treats midwives as replaceable 'units' rather than the highly skilled professionals they are!”
- Statement provided to GMAG by local Midwives for Stroud May Day March & Rally, 2nd May 2026
Sign the petition:
Read coverage:
“Home births to resume after safety concerns” - despite the headline this piece features comment from GMAG around the risks of the proposals as we understand them (BBC Gloucestershire, 5th May 2026)
“Dr Simon Opher MP raises urgent concerns over future of Stroud Maternity Unit following NHS meeting" (StroudTimes, 26th April 2026)
“Save Stroud Maternity Unit” (Amplify Stroud, 25th April 2026)
“Campaigners say the suspension of all home births in Gloucestershire is a breach of human rights” (ITV 16th February 2026)