“…This has been widely debated over the last decade with reference to emergency room resuscitations (Eichhorn et al, 2001;MacLean et al, 2003;Critchell and Marik, 2007;Howlett et al, 2010) where some well-developed 'family presence' programmes are now in place (Booth et al, 2004;Lowry, 2011). Although there is evidence of benefits to patients, family members and staff (for review see Hodge and Marshall, 2009), and studies show that patients and relatives often wish to stay together (Benjamin et al, 2004;Duran et al, 2007), this is not common practice in relation to obstetric emergencies. First-hand experience of events and the efforts that are made on their partners' behalf may give partners a sense of inclusion in the situation, rather than the exclusion described in our study.…”