The scandal of stillbirths

On your point about areas of the country Anya, I'd be interested to know whether they make a link between stillbirth and women living in deprived areas. A number of studies have shown that these women face far more challenges than those living in middle class areas.

For a number of years we've also had a high teenage pregnancy rate, with some deprived areas of the country having the highest figures in Europe.

Some groups of women choose not to access ante-natal care, particularly teenage mothers and mothers with social problems such as drug and alcohol abuse.

There have been moves to establish good centres of care for young women and their families. At one time a woman could access ante-natal care at her local Sure Start Children's Centre. In the same building there were midwives, smoking cessation workers, health visitors, baby clinics, social workers etc. There is a high demand for these services yet, due to cuts they are closing down.

George Osborne has recently announced that local authority funding will be cut by another ten per cent in 2015-16 as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. So I can only see more closures. Politics cannot be taken out of the situation. It is a political issue.

You can only read some articles online if you pay.

I'm sorry Anya but I think it is a political issue. What else is it? The NHS is used as a political tool to try and win votes. Successive governments make changes and with an organisation like the NHS things never recover before more changes are made. Some would argue that a Conservative government is also intent on privatising the NHS.

At present we have a shortage of midwives, health visitors and nurses. As this group of workers care about their patients they are taken advantage of. It's the same with the junior doctors.

We need more frontline services, yet these professionals are leaving due to poor morale. So we end up without enough well qualified staff, who are burnt out, tired and disillusioned.

Stansgran a paywall is when you have to pay to access online articles. The Times has a complete paywall, I think the Telegraph allows you 30 articles a month before they ask for a subscription.
<sticks head above the parapet>
Anya Although the articles I've read do implicate poor monitoring and antenatal care, sadly, I don't think that you can ignore the political aspects. The Government are the NHS paymasters and as such bear responsibility for a) how much money is spent on obstetric services and b) to a lesser extent, how that money is actually used in the front line.
However, healthcare professionals (not just talking about midwives here, it applies to others) have a responsibility to shout from the rooftops if the financial constraints that they are subject to, mean that they are unable to provide safe standards of care for their patients.
If healthcare professionals react to financial stringency by excusing substandard care, then they bear as much responsibility as the government.
Of course in the vast majority of cases the staff do their very best, but one of the findings of the inquiry into Stafford Hospital was that some staff had abnegated their professional responsibilities with the excuse that they were trying to reach targets imposed by management.

Ante natal care is also up to the mother as Sadiesnan has said . I didn't understand what you meant Obie about a paywall. Would someone explain please?

We are talking about anti-natal care anyway.

cars care

Let us not turn this into another political thread please. That's just a cop out.

If some areas of the country can improve their cars and outcome then so can others.

Sadie I'm sure all these factors were taken into consideration. Are you thinking that perhaps women in other European countries different from women in the UK?

No, it points the finger directly at poor and inadequate care in some areas of the country. The West Midlands has cut its stillbirth rate by 40% at an extra cost of 50p per mother - simply by measuring, weighing, recording and taking certain other factors into consideration.

I think midwives would like to give better care but they are overworked, due to staff shortages. My neighbour is a midwife and she tells me how it is on the frontline. The staff work extra hours every shift, they miss their breaks and they stay late. Personally I blame the government.

I'm sure any report published in The Lancet is accurate and well researched.

Thank you Jane I'll read your link.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3405699/More-700-stillbirths-year-blamed-poor-care-mums-One-three-avoided-Britain-lags-wealthy-nations-reducing-death-rate.html
This is the Mail's version.
The BBC's and the Guardian's reports both point out the UK figures are part of a large worldwide study.

Do the figures take into account all the factors linked with stillbirth? For example stillbirths are more common if the mother is over 35 years of age and many women are delaying having their family.

Smoking, drinking alcohol or misusing drugs while pregnant is also a factor. My own sister had a stillbirth and she was a heavy smoker.

I presume the article is behind a paywall.

Does the article suggest it is a GP problem, or midwife?