NCT Watch

An independent inquiry commissioned by the King’s Fund has published results showing that the overwhelming majority of births in England are safe, despite growing pressures on maternity services.  Stillbirths, infant mortality rates and maternal deaths directly related to pregnancy or birth have fallen or remained stable over the past ten years, while birth rates and the complexity of some pregnancies has risen.

However, the publication also states that the lack of a systematic approach to ensuring safety across maternity services is creating unnecessary risks. It reports that there is an insufficient focus on maternity services and safety by trust boards; staff are overburdened with too many separate and complex guidelines; tension between obstetricians and midwives is leading to problems with team working & communication; and, often, there are an inadequate numbers of staff with the right skills on duty.

The inquiry calls for a range of practical improvements and identifies the key factors in improving safety as: stronger governance at board level, better team & multidisciplinary working, more training in safety, including training on the labour ward, and good management of staffing levels & skill mix.

The Health and Social Care Bill had its second reading debate in the House of Lords this week.  The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds welcomed the health in pregnancy grant but called for the grant to be based on the number of children rather than on the pregnancy itself. He also raised concern that the grant remains a universal grant, as it is now, throughout its course through Parliament.   

Ann Keen, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, this week responded to a Parliamentary Question about the proportion of women who opted to have a caesarean section in the last year for which figures are available.

“In 2005-06 there were 593,400 deliveries in National Health Service hospitals in England. Of these 139,449 were by caesarean section. Elective caesarean accounted for 9.3 per cent (12,969) of the total.”