Released on: 31 January 2014
In response to the PAC report on Maternity services in England, Belinda Phipps, Chief Executive, NCT, says:
“We welcome this report which highlights a number of problems with maternity services that NCT has been campaigning on for years.
“Despite some progress, there are still not enough midwives to give women the level of care they need. As well as having more midwives we also need to use them more effectively. Many problems raised in the report could be addressed with better continuity of care, where a woman’s care throughout her pregnancy is provided by a midwife she knows and trusts.
“Our research shows only a quarter of all women want to give birth in an obstetric unit yet 87% end up doing so. It’s unacceptable that women are still not given enough choice over where they give birth.”