The King’s Fund have published the final report on their inquiry in to the safety of maternity services in England. The full report entitled “Safe births; everybody’s business” is available to download from http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/current_projects/maternity_services_inquiry/index.html
The report concludes that the overwhelming majority of births in England are safe, despite growing pressures on maternity services. However, it suggests that the lack of a systematic approach to ensuring safety across maternity services is creating unnecessary risks and calls for a range of practical improvements.
The NCT welcomes the report and agrees that more steps can and should be taken to improve the safety of maternity services. As part of improving safety, it is important to prevent complications from developing by providing care which keeps as many births as normal as possible.
To achieve this, all women should have supportive, one to one midwifery care throughout labour and the NCT supports the recommendations made to increase investment in staffing. More midwives are needed in the service to help keep labour and birth normal.
It is vital that increased midwifery staffing levels are also managed effectively to make maximum use of available resources. Midwives should be well supported by administrative and maternity support staff so they are able to focus on providing care and not on basic administrative or housekeeping tasks. Midwives and obstetricians must be led and managed to form a cohesive well functioning team.
March 7, 2008
Harry Cohen MP has laid Early Day Motion 1112 calling on the government to announce a step change in the way in which maternity services are funded. The full text of the EDM reads as follows:
That this House is concerned by the £55 million fall in spending on NHS maternity services in the last financial year; notes with concern that the share of the NHS budget spent on maternity services fell from 3 per cent. to 2 per cent. between 1997-98 and 2006-07; is worried that this has happened despite the number of births in England rising by 13 per cent. over the last five years to stand at the highest level since 1993; welcomes the commitment by the Department of Health to increase the NHS maternity services budget by £122 million by 2010-11; recognises however that the deadline for delivering on the ambitious and much-needed guarantees made in the Maternity Matters strategy is the end of 2009; and therefore urges the Government to announce in the forthcoming budget an additional, immediate and substantial step change in funding for NHS maternity services.
The EDM currently has 30 signatures.
March 7, 2008
In response to a written question put by David Whitton MSP, Shona Robison has stated that the Scottish Executive is committed to every pregnant woman having a foetal anomaly scan as a matter of routine and claimed she was working closely with the NHS to ensure that this happens as soon as possible. Currently, all maternity units in Scotland offer an ultrasound scan at booking and around 57% of units routinely provide an 18-22 week scan for the detection of foetal anomaly
March 7, 2008
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, James Purnell, speaking at the Labour Party Conference last week has asserted that the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020 is ‘non negotiable’, as not only is it a scar on Britain’s conscious, it is also fundamental to achieving real life chances for all.
Kate Green responded stating that the Labour Party could take pride in its child poverty pledge, as it showed that the right selection of policies could make a real different to the quality of life in Britain. However, she argued that a number of elements surrounding welfare reform were heading in the wrong direction if the 2020 target was to be met. She said Labour needed to stop rubbishing financial support for those who genuinely need it.
March 7, 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and families has promised new measures to to increase the effectiveness of Sure Start in the communities that were most at need, including an additional two outreach workers at each centre in the 1500 most disadvantaged areas, and a further £7m funding over the next 3 years to allow 5,000 practitioners to take up new training opportunities.
The funding was announced in response to the publication of an independent evaluation report in to the impact of the Sure Start programme, which asserted that children behaved better and were more independent if they lived in areas with a Sure Start centre.
March 7, 2008
The last few months have been a pivotal time for the NCT’s campaign for a ban on formula milk advertising. Early in the year we met with success when the UK Government implemented new European legislation on infant and follow-on formula by introducing regulations which set out stricter controls on the promotion, labelling and composition of infant and follow-on formula. The regulations banned advertisements, which made direct comparisons between formula milk and breast-milk and those which blurred the distinction between infant formula and follow on formula.
The regulations came into force in January 2008 but were immediately suspended in England, Wales and Northern Ireland following an application by the Infant and Dietetic Foods Association (IDFA) for a judicial review. IDFA challenged the date by which formula manufacturers needed to comply with new labelling requirements. The case was heard in England and Wales on 28th and 29th February and the judge found in favour of IDFA. The regulations had called for manufacturers to comply with the labelling requirements by January 2008. However, the Judge decided that a legal technicality in the European Directive meant that the manufacturers should not be legally bound to change their labels until 31st December 2009. The suspension has now been lifted in England and Wales and the existing 2007 regulations are now in force but the stricter controls on labelling will now not be introduced until 31 December 2009. Advertising which makes direct comparisons between the product and breastmilk are prohibited with immediate effect and the rules on advertising, that are included to ensure there is no confusion between infant and follow on formula, stand. A judicial review was also called for in Scotland, but the judge refused to suspend the regulations while the case was being heard. The Scottish case was heard in mid February and a judgement is pending. The case in Northern Ireland was adjourned until the completion of the case in England and Wales.
March 7, 2008
