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Information for Health Professionals

… Mothers' Lives 2003-2005

Genital tract sepsis: Specific recommendations (7, page 97)

All health professionals must be aware of the symptoms and signs of maternal sepsis and critical illness and of the rapid, potentially lethal course of severe sepsis and septic shock:

Maternal tachycardia, constant severe abdominal pain and tenderness are important early features of genital tract …

Terms of Use

… rely on the information on this website as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about childbed fever (or any other medical condition) you should consult your doctor or other healthcare provider; and if you think you may be suffering from childbed fever (or any other medical condition) you should seek immediately medical …

Links

… Journal of Midwifery

Cruise Bereavement Care

Confidential Enquiry into Maternal And Child Health

Department of Health

Healthcare Commission

NHS Direct

Nursing & Midwifery Council

Patients Association

Royal College of Midwives

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Survive Sepsis

Winston's Wish

The charity for bereaved children

Our NHS, our future

As you may know, Lord Darzi (leading surgeon and Department of Health minister) is two thirds of the way through his review of the NHS. He is examining eight clinical pathways, Maternity being one of them.

There is a consultation across the UK about Primary Care (GP) services today, but there is also an online questionnaire for the public which runs for …

Friday's Child is nearly ready

… this is also a story of two people who loved each other for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; till death tragically parted them.'

Friday's Child is now available to order from Amazon

No news would have been good news

There's been a fair bit of news recently (see here and here ) about two poor mothers who gave birth on the same day, in the same hospital, and who both died within three days, just before Christmas. The coverage has focused on the fact that they both had a Group A Strep infection, and there has …

Further reading

… Childbed/Puerperal Fever, it's causes and effects.

Confidential Enquiry into Maternal And Child Health

CEMACH Report: Why Mothers Die 2000-2002

CEMACH Report: Saving Mothers' Lives 2003-2005

The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever 1843, Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

Encyclopaedia Britannica: Puerperal Fever

General Practice Notebook - Puerperal Infection

Healthcare A2Z …

Unfamiliarity breeds infection

… among staff in maternity units or in the community, Emergency Departments, and among GPs and health visitors.

The cases in this Report clearly demonstrate that genital tract sepsis is still a problem, that is repeatedly missed and there is often failure to treat women early and aggressively enough. Some of these maternal deaths may have been prevented if the signs and symptoms of sepsis …

Masses of bodies

… target. Instead they are blaming us for their failure to be aware, to treat and to run a modern health service.

There is a twist though. Jessica was a petite, middle class, 34 year old woman. Her post mortem report, however, gives her height as 1.61m and her post delivery weight as 82kg. The NHS Direct website has just told me that this means that her Body Mass Index would be 31.6, which …

Dying to be a mother

… to read.

There seems to be some confusion within the government about the true picture - the Health minister, Ann Keen, seems to think that this means we have a death rate of 7 per 100,000 pregnancies, but the real figure is 13.95 per 100,000. How much longer can they keep burying their heads in the sand?

We need to take control, as parents, and show the NHS and government that we are …