Deliver us from this disaster
Mon 23rd Jul 2007 by Ben Palmer.
So far I've always said that Maternity care in this country is excellent for babies and sub standard for mothers. The reasons for this are obvious, but it goes wider than Jessica and our family. So many of Jessica's friends have said that they were not adequately looked after post-natally, both in hospital and at home afterwards although, luckily, no permanent damage was done.
I've just watched Channel 4's Dispatches programme, 'Undercover Mother', and I'm not so sure any more. It showed that babies are also suffering from inadequately resourced Maternity services.
A few months ago BBC1 showed a Panorama programme, 'Midwives Undercover', which ended with the covertly recorded line from a midwife that said that nobody would sit up until they lost a mother. Well wake up and sit up: healthy mothers like Jessica are dying as well as babies. Neither baby nor mother is expendable, neither's loss should be budgeted for nor tolerated.
Why is this government ignoring the danger that we all; rich/poor, black/white, educated/uneducated, northern/southern, married/unmarried face. Childbirth is a traumatic and dangerous event for mother and baby, and it must be provided for. To Gold Standard.
This country is not going to stop having babies, and nobody's going to limit procreation to fit a government budget. The NHS must look at the number of babies being born, look at the level of care required to ensure the safety and health of its patients and plan accordingly. Now. Not in nine months time.
