ENGLAND — The rate of women in England sustaining the most serious type of tear during childbirth rose to 31.1 in every 1,000 births in early 2026, the highest level since monitoring began in 2020, according to NHS England figures. The rate of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears increased from 25 in 1,000 when figures were first published in June 2020.

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said, "Behind these statistics are women going through unimaginable trauma, requiring surgery and in many cases months or even years of recovery." Morgan added, "Some will never fully recover."

Kim Thomas, chief executive of the Birth Trauma Association, said, "The recorded rise in tears is potentially worrying." Thomas added, "I don't necessarily think that the apparent increase in third- and fourth-degree tears is a sign of worsening maternity services, though it may be." A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said, "These are concerning findings, and as last week's shocking report into maternity services at Nottingham university hospitals [trust] underlined, too many women are being failed by poor-quality maternity care."

Separately, the rate of women experiencing postpartum haemorrhage increased to 31.2 in every 1,000 births in 2025, the highest annual rate recorded over the five years for which data has been collected. In early 2026, the rate was 31.2 in 1,000. The rate of postpartum haemorrhage increased from 25.6 in 1,000 to 31.65 in 1,000 last year.

Outcomes of more than 85,000 of the 542,235 births that occurred during 2024-25 were missing from the NHS's Hospital Episodes Statistics dataset. In 2023-24, outcomes of more than 100,000 of the 545,149 births were missing from the same dataset. Missing details include the place of delivery, method of delivery, babies' birth weights, anaesthetics used, and gestation weeks. The NHS has been introducing a "care bundle" advising hospitals to diagnose and treat third- and fourth-degree tears more quickly. Martha's rule gives women and parents the right to a second opinion about the care of a mother or baby. Data indicates that older mothers and Asian women were more prone to tears.