Released on: 11 November 2013

A new report from RCM and Netmums reveals that postnatal care is suffering and women are getting a poorer service because of the continuing shortage of midwives.

 In response to this report, Elizabeth Duff, Policy Advisor, NCT said:

“We are not surprised to see yet another report highlighting problems with postnatal care in the UK. There is a high proportion of women who are not receiving the postnatal support they need and an unacceptably wide geographical variation in both quality and cost of care. Complications in both physical and mental health can arise in women who have recently given birth and they usually need very prompt attention to avoid devastating impact on the mother and the family.

“Postnatal care across the UK is fragmented and under-resourced, as a recent NCT and NFWI report showed (Support Overdue: Women’s Experiences of Maternity Care). The NCT research also revealed poor continuity of care, which prevents women from getting to know and trust the midwife looking after them.

“NCT is calling on the government to meet its promises to make postnatal care a priority and increase continuity, which has been shown to reduce costs to the service. NCT support for parents, including online information and local networks covers the first 1,000 days of parenthood.”

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