This website is intended for healthcare professionals
This website is intended for healthcare professionals
England is a safe place to have a baby. So says secretary of state for health Jeremy Hunt, in the foreword to the new report from the Department of Health's (DH, 2016) Maternity Safety Programme Team....
A former school friend of mine, who had her first child this year, told me about her anger when an obstetrician referred to her pregnancy as ‘geriatric’. Inappropriate though this term may seem...
Perinatal mental health has been lingering near the top of the midwifery agenda for a while—at least in terms of rhetoric—but now some of the talk is being translated into action. The Perinatal Mental...
Along with ‘thinking outside the box’ and ‘touching base’, another annoying phrase that corporate jargon has inflicted on the English language is ‘do more with less’. This little gem has been...
In the aftermath of the referendum on EU membership, uncertainty reigns. As I write this, members of the Conservative Party are considering leadership options following the resignation of David...
At the end of April, the Department of Health (DH) launched a consultation on proposed changes to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) legislation regarding midwifery regulation (Proctor, 2016)....
Despite talk of ‘woman-centred care’, much of the care provided by the NHS is based on guidelines directed at the whole population, rather than tailored to the individual. In time-pressured maternity...
My early years were not exactly traditional. My parents were actors, so the nature of their employment was sporadic. When I was a baby, my mother took a temporary job and my father looked after me....
The new National Maternity Review (NMR, 2016) for England has sparked a range of reactions. As this issue went to press, I read a comment in the New Scientist (Wilson, 2016) which is scathing in its...
One of the most emotionally challenging aspects of midwifery is supporting women and families to cope with perinatal death. In January, the Lancet (2016) launched a series on ending preventable...
The chief medical officer's (CMO's) latest Annual Report, published in December, focused on women's health (Davies, 2015). Media coverage of the report has focused on the key message that obesity is...
Last month, at the annual conference of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), I was one of many delegates privileged to hear a selection of excellent speakers including Karen Guilliland, chief...
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