NCT Watch

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.