NHS trusts urged to improve maternity care
Some areas of maternity care in NHS hospitals are failing
Thursday, 10, Jul 2008 12:01
NHS trusts are being urged to improve the care they provide for mothers and babies following the largest-ever survey of mothers by the Healthcare Commission.
The healthcare watchdog's report revealed that while the majority of women were positive about services, a number of improvements are needed.
In some trusts there were too few beds and bathrooms and there was poor communication, care and support after women had their babies.
And in others levels of staffing were below average and consultant obstetricians did not spend the time on labour wards recommended by their professional body.
The Healthcare Commission also found that recommendations for antenatal care were not adequately adhered to, particularly in the case of women whose pregnancies were likely to be more risky.
The poll's findings were presented today by Sir Ian Kennedy, the commission's Chairman, at a conference on maternity services in Birmingham.
Sir Ian asked for the review after the regulator carried out three separate investigations into deaths at maternity units during a two-year period.
He said the report contains some "tough messages" and that they "must not be ignored".
"There is clearly more to be done to improve the quality of clinical care as well as the experiences of women," Sir Ian commented.
"I urge [NHS trusts] to seize with both hands the opportunity that this review has created to push maternity services higher up the agenda and to make lasting improvements for women."
Commenting on the report, Dame Karlene Davis, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said NHS trusts "have got to take maternity services more seriously".
"We celebrate the good examples highlighted in this report, and there are many, but we also want action to tackle the bad ones," she added.
"We need investment that actually reaches the front line, better staffing levels and better facilities. It has also got to start happening now.
"If it doesn't the vision for better maternity services will always be on the other side of the horizon, leaving yet another legacy of broken government promises, and maternity services that do not match the grand rhetoric."
Mary Newburn, head of policy research at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), also expressed the need for "urgent action" in maternity services in some areas.
"All women should be able to expect one-to-one midwifery care during labour; the birth environment should be fit for purpose; and postnatal care should no longer languish as the poor relation to antenatal care," she said.
"The report shows that significantly more could be done - and must be done - to provide women with opportunities. Women need to feel welcomed, well-informed and provided with both support and appropriate care."