You are in > manchester.com  > News > Pregnant women 'denied choice'

Health

Pregnant women 'denied choice'

27/11/2007

Just under half of women who gave birth at the start of 2007 were not given the choice of a home-birth, research has revealed.

Guidelines say women should decide where they give birth but 43 per cent of women in the largest-ever survey of maternity experiences said hospital labour was the only option available.

The Healthcare Commission's survey of 26,000 women who gave birth in January and February praised many areas of care but highlighted numerous problems in postnatal care, food, communication and cleanliness.

It found that one-quarter of women were left alone during labour or shortly after giving birth at a time that worried them.

This goes against guidelines which state that women should not be left alone except for short periods and suggests that midwives may not be adequately reassuring women when they leave the room.

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they would have liked to see a midwife more often after birth and 22 per cent said their midwife did not discuss feeding their baby with them during pregnancy.

Over a third of women (36 per cent) said they were not offered NHS antenatal classes, which trusts were asked to do in the government's National Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services.

Concerns were also raised by the survey that best practice is not being followed in which position women should give birth in.

Over a quarter of females overall gave birth lying down with their legs in stirrups, going against guidance discouraging this position.

In one trust stirrups were used for 44 per cent of births.

One-fifth of women branded their hospital food as poor and a quarter said they were given too little.

Nearly a fifth of women said the toilets and bathrooms were 'not very clean' or 'not at all clean'; a figure that rose to nearly two-thirds of women in one trust.

Commenting on the findings, Anna Walker, Healthcare Commission chief executive, said overall "women are clearly positive about maternity services".

"But the results do highlight specific areas of concern and wide variations with issues," she added.

"We expect trusts to make full use of their individual results and the opportunity to compare with others. These results show us that many trusts provide very positive services for women. Trusts with less positive results need to learn from the good performers."

The Conservatives have seized on the survey as showing that the government is not ensuring that women are given "the quality of care they need".

"Labour have been making promises to women for years that they will have choice over where they give birth and access to good antenatal care but it's very clear that there are still significant gaps in the service," said shadow health minister Anne Milton.

"We need a maternity service that gives control of pregnancy back to mothers, and puts midwives at the heart of care for women and their babies."

Dr Gwyneth Lewis, national clinical lead for maternal health and maternity services, said: "We want to see positive experiences replicated throughout the entire process - during pregnancy, labour, birth and postnatally.

"That is why we are working with the NHS to implement 'Maternity Matters', our strategy for providing safe, high quality maternity care for every woman."