Beware trauma pitching

Hello everyone, I’m Roisín and I’ll be writing to you weekly for the next six months while Claudia is off on maternity leave. I’m a health journalist and senior editor of 13 years, working on leading consumer titles – from Women’s Health to Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and the Independent.

I’d normally like to start with something light, but it feels remiss not to reflect on the biggest healthcare story in the UK this week. TW: maternal health and birth trauma.

The Ockenden report, the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history into systemic failings at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, was published last week. It’s devastating; 162 potentially avoidable deaths (156 babies and six mothers) and 500+ instances of potentially avoidable harm, including serious brain damage.

Amid a culture of fear, bullying, racism and cover ups, senior midwife Donna Ockenden uncovered denial of caesarean births to women begging for them, stories of babies allowed to decompose – and more.

While leaders in healthcare governance pledge lesson learning, within this tragedy there’s something for us, shapers of health communication, to heed, too. Namely, that while personal tragedy may be the headline – with health desks looking for ways to cover this landmark, evolving story – that doesn’t automatically qualify it as your ‘hook’.

Maybe your client has something genuine and valuable to add to the discourse – a mental health professional who’s worked with women in similar situations, a former midwife speaking out, or a solicitor who has dealt with serious negligence cases in neonatal and maternal care. But I’d caution hard against using acute human tragedy to add ‘newsworthiness’ to products or services – cycle tracking apps, supplements, retreats – broadly related to women’s health and pregnancy loss.

Shoehorning a news hook is never ideal. But in cases like these, you risk more than an ignored email. At best, you’ll make an editor distastefully wrinkle their nose; at worst – well, you never know what’s going on in the personal lives of the people you pitch to.

Timeliness may be currency, but so is compassionate discernment.

I’d be inclined to assume stories like these sit largely outside consumer PR pitching opps, unless what you have to offer is, like the examples listed above, directly relevant.