Reality star Louise Thompson triggers parliamentary debate on maternity care

A petition led by TV star Louise Thompson has triggered a debate in parliament on maternity services following her own traumatic experience.

Thompson, known for her role in Made in Chelsea, continues to campaign for increased maternity funding after suffering from ongoing health problems following the birth of her son, Leo.

She was left with a range of symptoms, including PTSD and the autoimmune disease lupus, after almost dying during the delivery in 2021.

During the emergency C-section she lost a considerable amount of blood, then suffered another haemorrhage 10 days after being discharged.

The resulting complications coupled with her pre-existing inflammatory bowel disease led to Thompson having her colon removed in 2024.

As a result, Thompson led a campaign alongside former MP Theo Clarke, for a dedicated maternity commissioner to examine the state of maternity services in the UK.

In an emotional interview, Thompson told Sky News' Sarah-Jane Mee: "Trying to look after a child, a new born...whilst barely functioning ourselves is one of the most traumatic things that can happen to anybody in their lives."

Now the 36-year-old's efforts have led to a debate in parliament on Monday after her petition reached 100,000.

But Thompson says she wants to see more urgency in boosting investment into maternity care.

She added: "I'm so angry about the whole thing. We deserve a safe and dignified birth. We deserve to understand what to expect, we deserve to be educated, we deserve to be given choices.

"If we would like to have a caesarean section we should be granted that, that is part of the NICE guidelines and that was not what I had access to.

"There are so many other women who also feel like they were uninformed and they did not get to make the right choices."

Thompson said: "In the maternity space you're actually not dealing with the life of one person, you are dealing with multiple lives.

"The surgery I needed was an emergency, but there was still time that could be bought, so we had a few days until that space opened up in the operating theatre.

"But when it comes to childbirth you don't have the time to wait, so it requires extra resources, extra funding, extra understanding, extra education, and all of that is lacking because there is just not enough investment and research into women's health."

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Last month, a new taskforce was set up to help improve the quality of NHS maternity and neonatal care in England, made up of family representatives, senior NHS leaders, campaigners and academics.

It promised to deliver "safer and higher-quality care" and tackle "deep-rooted inequalities".

Last year, a range of issues including women feeling ignored and neglected were raised in nearly 170 birth stories shared with and analysed by Sky News.

Thompson told Sky News: "One of the fears that I have is politics is so unstable and there are constant reshuffles, and without someone to take ownership of this in the long-run, will these changes actually ever happen?"

"I had to rely on a crisis team to come to my house every single day for a month, to hold my hand, to tell me that having a feeling that felt like I had fire in my brain, as someone who had always been high functioning up until that moment, that that was normal and other people who had severe PTSD or depression felt like that and I would get better.

"If I hadn't had access to that service then I would have died."

Thompson featured in E4 reality show, Made In Chelsea, since the first series in 2011, before leaving in 2020.

Her partner Ryan Libbey joined the cast in 2016 and the couple got engaged in 2018, before welcoming their son in 2021.

(c) Sky News 2026: Reality star Louise Thompson triggers parliamentary debate on maternity care