24.08.12
Postcode lottery?
A new report has reiterated how much work the Government must do to meet its pledges on maternity care.
Thousands of women are missing out on consistency of midwife care throughout pregnancy, birth and post-natal, as well as a lack of support for post-natal depression, dealing with still births or the death of a baby.
The RCM has been petitioning Government to respond by supplying greater resources, including many more midwives.
But this is not the only way this situation can be resolved, and better training and firmer embedding of key policy could provide women with an improved experience of pregnancy.
The variation unveiled throughout the country is also disturbing; if best practice exists in some pockets of England, this can and must be implemented all over. Otherwise the NHS risks the quality of maternity care available becoming a postcode lottery.
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