Identifying Birth Trauma as a GP
At least 1 in 4 of all women and birthing people find some aspect of their birth traumatic. This translates to 200,000 people in the UK each year. Between 3-8% of people who experience their birth as traumatic, will meet the diagnostic criteria for Postnatal PTSD.
How can you, as a GP, support your patients?
Press play on the video to learn more about supporting those impacted by birth trauma.There’s a big benefit in just listening and validating someone’s experience. The 6-8 week consultation provides an ideal opportunity for this. You can start with asking simple and direct questions, rather than waiting for patients to disclose, as they may be reluctant to raise their trauma. For example, you can ask:
“How was your birth?”or “How are you finding being a parent?”Of course, since time is limited, you can offer a follow-up appointment if you need more time than the 6-8 week consultation.
Make Birth Better research (May 2025) shows there’s a lot to gain if we start asking people about the impact of their birth. This is where you, as a GP, come in.
Watch our conversation on birth trauma awareness amongst GPs and Health Visitors and the vital role they play in spotting the first signs of birth trauma and getting the right support for people. In this conversation, we cover why it is so important for GPs and Health Visitors to have a better understanding of birth trauma, and what some of the challenges are in raising awareness and increasing birth trauma knowledge.
Helpful Resources
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As mentioned, for parents there is a big benefit in being listened to and having their experience validated. We know from those who reach out to us for help, that a lot of that first support comes from being able to understand what happened to them, and being able to put a name to it.
If one of your patients has had a traumatic or negative experience, please refer them to our support pages for parents. They will find more information on what birth trauma is, how to find help and what treatment is available (including NHS pathways), and what support there is for subsequent pregnancies and births. We have a separate support section for partners, who might be impacted too.
A valuable resource for parents that you might want to use as guidance at the 6-8 week consultation, or in a follow-up appointment, is our ‘I need help’ download. This is a free resource co-created with The PANDAS Foundation and NHS GP Dr Punam Krishan. This download is to help parents have a conversation about the way they are feeling – mentally, physically, and emotionally – with their GP, health visitor, midwife, social worker or another healthcare professional providing them with support.
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The City Birth Trauma Scale was developed by Professor Susan Ayers and colleagues at City, University of London. It was published in 2018 and is the first scale specifically designed to assess traumatic birth and PTSD according to the diagnostic criteria outlined in DSM-5.
We collaborated with Professor Susan Ayers in the development of a short version of the screening tool as we saw the need for a brief assessment tool for GPs and other healthcare professionals. This short version was developed in collaboration with researchers and health professionals, using data from 31 countries and was launched in January 2025.
The City Birth Trauma Scale short form is a tool designed to facilitate early identification of birth trauma and childbirth-related PTSD, ensuring that those impacted receive timely support. This tool has 5 questions - one question about whether someone’s birth was traumatic, and four questions assessing the four core symptoms of PTSD. The short version is available as a standard or fillable form. Scoring instructions are also available.
In August 2025, BMJ Global Health published an article on the tool. You can read it here.
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Our Birth Trauma 101 training video is free to watch. It is 15 minutes long and is designed as an introduction to birth trauma and vicarious or secondary trauma (the impact on healthcare professionals). The short talk explains what trauma is and how birth has become a widely recognised cause of trauma. We touch on the symptomatology of birth trauma and the different aspects of the journey from conception to early parenthood which can cause trauma in women, birthing people and their families. We also discuss why it’s so important to look at the whole system around birth and how the wellness of professionals is vitally important too. It’s a slightly deeper dive into the basic ins and outs of birth trauma compared to the video at the top of this page.
To watch this short training video, register below and we will email you a link to the Birth Trauma 101 video so you can watch it for free.
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Our research (December 2025) shows, there is a critical need to educate and upskill GPs around birth trauma. We are experts at providing evidence-based training to organisations and individuals.
We are proud to deliver training which is very highly reviewed and focused on meaningful, creative, reflective and personalised learning. Please take a look at all our training options below and contact us if you have any questions or queries.