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Birthrights Information and Advice Service – Christmas Holiday Notice
Seasons Greetings –
Our small and dedicated team of part-time staff will be taking a well-deserved break over the Christmas holidays from 18th December. We will aim to respond to all enquiries received during this period by 5th January. If your enquiry is urgent, we will do our best to prioritise it and get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
If you need support before then, please look at our collection of factsheets which cover a range of key topics.
Important Info
The Birthrights Advice and Information Service is a UK based email service which provides legal information (based on the laws of England and Wales), emotional support and practical advice relating to the human rights of women and birthing people during pregnancy and childbirth.
The Service does not provide medical or legal advice or legal representation. We provide information based upon our understanding of the law at the time that we respond to your email, and of the information that we have received from you. The law in this area may be subject to change. We accept no responsibility for loss which may arise from reliance upon information contained in our emails, and we accept no responsibility to update you of subsequent law changes.
Where you’re based
If your query is about the rights of women or birthing people in England or Wales:
- Our team is available to support you.
If your query is about the rights of women or birthing people in Scotland or Northern Ireland:
- Our team is available to support you; however, we are not specialists in Scottish or Northern Irish law, so we can only provide information on the Human Rights Act 1998, which applies to the entire UK.
If your query is about the rights of women or birthing people outside of the UK:
Our team is unable to provide support, other than offer information on human rights during pregnancy and childbirth within the UK.
Signposting and external support
To support you as best we can, we may signpost to different organisations and resources that we believe could be helpful and that we have researched. However, references to third-party organisations or services do not constitute an endorsement by Birthrights. While we aim to highlight organisations that share our values and standards, we cannot guarantee the quality or level of service they provide.
Unless otherwise stated, we aim to respond within five working days. Please add us to your Safe Sender list or check your Spam folder for a response if you have not heard from us.
If you have a general concern about the quality of your maternity service, please let us know if you have raised it with your Trust’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) or the Healthboard’s Patient Support service (for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). The email address and phone number of these services will be on the website of the Trust or Healthboard who provide your maternity care. PALS can help to resolve your general concerns and they can also forward your email to relevant staff such as the Head of Midwifery or the Trust’s Chief Executive Officer.
About Birthrights
Birthrights is the UK charity that champions respectful maternity care by protecting human rights. We provide advice and legal information to women and birthing people, train healthcare professionals to deliver rights-respecting care and campaign to change maternity policy and systems.