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By carriemumsnet on Mon 14-Apr-08 21:18:14
(from MNHQ)
Alan Johnson, Labour's Secretary of State for Health, will be here on Weds to answer your questions about the NHS. He's happy to talk about anything health -policy related, but some of the topics he's specifically covering during "health week" are: access to NHS services, hospital cleanliness, midwife provision, and a "personal" NHS offering maximum choice and control over the services they use.
As always, those of you who can't make it on the day can post your questions in advance here. Or grab a sarnie (healthy of course ) on Weds lunchtime and come and pose your questions in person.
So Alan, what are you going to do about the piss-poor support from the NHS for breastfeeding? One of the most shocking and dismaying things for a new mother, is to find that having read a couple of books about breastfeeding, she actually knows more about the subject than most of the midwives and health visitors she comes across, because they are so badly trained and ill-informed. And yet the long term benefits of breastfeeding are so well-established, that we know it would save the NHS a fortune if our breastfeeding rates were as high as those of Norway, Sweden et al. How high is this on your priority list and what measures are you considering to ensure that BF rates are improved, if any?
I have no reason to moan about the NHS from my own recent experiences in my local area.My sn child has received excellent care from paediatric services and an excellent portage service.However from doing a small poll on the special needs board of mumsnet it appears that access to services such as SALT,physiotherapy,portage and so on can be quite patchy countrywide,a bit of a postcode lottery really.How do you aim to improve access to such services for special needs children???Thank you.
Following on from wrinklytum and sophiebbb regarding special needs children. I find that although these services are essential it also helps if diagnosis services are easily available for autistic spectrum children. According to gov stats, autism diagnosis is on the increase but god knows how!
My own ds is approaching 8yrs old and only just about to begin access to this service. He is certainly not alone in this. How long before the NHS stats include a target for access to diagnosis services that doesn't leave a child to go through years of school asking "why am I different?" or "am I normal?"
my questions are about 1 - miscarriage - this is a very troubling and upsetting event for most women and as someone who has had a few I am shocked at the variation in care women receive. can we please make sure there are some clear standards of care and common procedures to follow
we need appropriate immediate and sympathetic care we adequate follow up
2- regarding vaccinations I gave my child the MMR vaccine but isn't it better to make the singles available rather than just leave it for those who can afford it and allow others to go without?
3 - breastfeeding like others have said the level of support is shocking most of the support comes from voluntary organisations and places like this but given the low levels of BF in this country can you please do something to start awareness and support much earlier - by the time you have a baby n your hands it is a bit late
I don't want choice and control over services - i want to go to my local, clean hospital and not have to wait for months to see a consultant about an ongoing health problem i have
with regard to maternity services, this Government should be hanging its head it shame
The midwives in my area, do homebirths in their OWN time - they are seriously over stretched but still give amazing care
The hospital where i gave birth was fine, and the MWs were excellent in helping me establish breastfeeding, but the HVs that visited afterwards were not helpful in this regard <<puts it mildly>>
i also would like to bring up the subject of Breastfeeding. not only is it important to get midwives and health visitors trained properly but GPs also need to be brought up to speed on the health benefits. Many of us have been to the GP and are faced with shock and at times even disapproval when we are nursing a child over 6 months. I'm not suggesting they be trained in proper latch or anything (though in an ideal world...) but just so that they know that breastmilk is best for babies and the health benefits that go along with that.
By carriemumsnet on Tue 15-Apr-08 10:38:56
(from MNHQ)
Thanks for these. Please keep the questions coming
and btw I will personally blame the government if Boris wins London <finger wagging>
meant to ask about dentists too what on earth is going on? we can only get private atm and seriously at least for kids under 18 it should be available in the NHS including proper orthodontics
so, we are around 10 000 Midwives short, leaving women worried that they cannot have the birth they want as there are not enough staff.. women are being told they cannot have a home birth as there are not enough staff....women and babies are being compromised, nationwide. Women are losing faith in the system.. independent midwives are beyond the financial reach of the majority and due to lack of insurance now, people are put off..
so when are women going to get the midwifery service they need?
one woman , one midwife
a real choice of where to give birth, not just lip service
and also, birth centres and MLUs are being closed, thus taking away real choice
there is no choice if the staff are not there to ensure choices can be met.
a botched delivery or a woman traumatised by her birth experience due to lack of staffing will ultimately cost the NHS more in terms of repairing the woman physically and emotionally...
Will try to think of a question, but I just wanted to say that he is one of the (very) few politicians that I would trust and actually believe what they say.
And may I also thank him for his support to the people of Hull and East Riding during the floods last summer?
We're pathetic. We can't just hang about saying what a nice and authentic person he seems. We need to ask penetrating and insightful questions about Health.
Derar Mr Johnson,can you tell me why myself and my colleagues are under threat of redundancy on a very busy acute paediatric ward,given that we struggle for staff now? We are undergoing a 'service review' and have been advised by management that jobs may be lost. Any comments?
Mr Johnson, Or may I call you Alan? I'd like to ask you to explain and justify increasing gp's pay enormously and simultaneously reducing their work load yet offer nurses (and teachers and police officers etc etc) paltry pay rises below inflation for YEARS and YEARS. I'd be impressed if you could explain it to me as I do struggle to understand these things.
Why is dental provision no longer available on the NHS?
Why are you trying to turn primary care services into a service industry akin to something like Tesco?
Why are you closing cottage hospitals and centralising services in massive megahospitals, so that people have to travel further and be away from home to access needed services?
why is paediatric speech and language therapy so difficult to access and therapists working with such massive caseloads that they can't see existing patients more frequently?
I live in Scotland so health is devolved to the Scottish Executive government but I would like to ask him about maternity services. I dont think you can discuss midwifery without discussing the wider area of maternity services.
Given my own experiences over the last year, I'd like to see UK-wide standards for the provision of maternity services. In particular:
1. Like sfx mum, I'd like to see set standards of support and care for those who have miscarriages.
2. Those who are pregnant following a miscarriage should expect the same support and care from a local EPU no matter where they live. Some women have to really fight to get an early reassurance scan. I can only comment on my experiences of early miscarriage, but without early scans, women have to go through an terrifying ordeal wondering whether their baby is still alive.
3. An end to the 'postcode lottery' of ante-natal care. All women in the UK should be offered the same tests and routine scans wherever they live. Like many women, I had to pay £150 for a 20 week scan, which is offered routinely in other parts of the UK. Not every pregnant woman wants every scan/test available but they should be able to make an informed choice about whether to have them without having to consider whether they can afford to pay for them privately. Examples include nuchal fold scans and Group B strep testing.
I know that Alan Johnson cannot influence Health policy in Scotland, but he can ensure that the maternity services in England and Wales are something for the rest of the UK to aspire to.
I'm with Sidge in wanting to know whether there is anything specific the Government are doing about paediatric speech and language therapy provision, both pre-school and beyond. There seem to be particular difficulties in dealing with the transition to school and maintaining consistent levels of support; the child is transferred to other therapists with enormous caseloads and can very easily just drop out of sight.
As an example, I have a 5 year old with a severe phonological disorder who despite a Statement of Special Needs which stipulates that he needs regular SALT input, has now not been seen by a SALT since January. This is is contrast to the weekly therapy sessions he had been receiving pre-school. The SALTs I have dealt with are hard-working and professional - but either there just aren't enough them, or there is insufficient funding to employ sufficient.
I'd like to know why when PCT's were merged last year were trusts that were performing well made to take on other underperforming trust's debts.
Harrogate and Craven PCT was an excellent authority but since taking on the debts of all the other PCT's in the area has had to cut services dramatically in order to make savings.
Why should the public have to suffer due to mismanagement of funds by incompetent managers in the NHS?
Why aren't there enough NHS dentists to go around and why has NHS funded paediatric orthodontistry been cut?
Why is there only one centre in the country offering auditory verbal therapy for children with a hearing impairment (and why is it a charity, and not a service routinely provided by the NHS)?
How will the government manage the balance needed over the next decade between the health care needs of older people, which will expand, and those of, for example, babies, children and pregnant women?
I've voted labour for years but like everyone else am heartily sick of the patronising notion of choice, when you know that we know that choice is merely a euphemism for poor quality spread thinly.
Be brave: raise taxes... Scandi style is the only answer.
Why was the postnatal ward so short staffed that was I unable to get any breast feeding help after the birth of my child, and even then only because i transferred out of the consultant unit to the midwife unit?
why were there no postnatal groups in my town?
why have antenatal classes been scrapped?
why did I have to deliver my dead baby on a busy labour ward, passing new mums with their perfect newborns along the way?
why was i not seen by anyone for 6 weeks after this traumatic event?
the service i have received during the pregnancy and birth of my 1st child, and the loss of my 2nd pregnancy, were on the whole excellent, but this was largely due to the exceptional support i received from individuals in the NHS rather than the system itself, which seems to hinder their efforts.
Mr Johnson, I am a doctor, and have worked in the NHS for the past 7 years. My first child is due in a few weeks, and after maternity leave i would like to work, and continue to train, part time. However, the government has withdrawn funding for flexible trainees, meaning I am forced to either return to work full time, or sacrifice the career I have spent the last 7 (12 if you count med school)years working towards. This penny pinching will result in the NHS losing many dedicated and experienced doctors it has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds training, and is further increasing the flood of hospital doctors into general practice. Your excuses please.
Mr Johnson, Perhaps you would like to explain your "personal NHS offering maximum choice" when surveys show that the majority of patients want to be treated at their local hospital and aren't much interested in the choice of further flung places? Isn't it the case that the NHS is a very expensive burden that the government has to shoulder, and that what you would really like is to start privatising it as much as possible? And isn't it also the case that the huge amounts of negative press you are giving to GPs is a part of trying to make primary care as unpopular as possible, easing the transition from free at the point of service care to pay as you go polyclinics? Can you admit that the government, when negotiating the new contract, were wanrned by GPs that if we were given targets to achieve, we would achieve them; so it is a bit unfair to whinge when we do in fact hit those targets and our pay goes up in accordance with you contract? Yes, we are expensive, but you made us that way. Shame you can't pay the nurses, porters, and so on a wage equal to their hard work too. Is it possible to see that as much as the politicians want shot of the NHS, we'd be quite happy to see the end of the politicians making headline grabbing 'initiatives' instead of addressing problems that need solving. You shut down 2 of our local Cottage Hospital 2 years ago, and we have had an almost constant beds crisis at the local DGH ever since, with patient care suffering as a consequence. Today I had to argue with that same DGH to keep a patient in because the family could not cope with him at home; had my Cottage Hospital been open I would have kept him there. The hospital had no quarrel with the fact that the patient needed admission, they simply had no beds. The NHS is a money pit, I agree, but the moeny thrown at it if often thrown in the wrong direction, from the ridiculously over budget computer system to costly consultations with management directors over whether or not the Health Board will save a few quid shutting a Cottage Hospital. Oh, and while you're here, perhaps you can help me: where am I going to find child care for my 2 children for me to work the extended opening hours that our patients have never asked for, for which there will be no lab back up, and potentially no out of hours coverage for either. The same goes for our receptionists who will be manning the desks - possibly on their own, late at night in an isolated rural practice. Thanks so much.
Hello Alan, I've got a little tip for helping with the superbugs. When my sister did her nurse training in the late 60's woebetide if they went home in their uniform never mind pick the kids up, go for a Tesco shop, stuff their pockets with goodness knows what. Nurses are bloomin marvellous but they look like cleaners. Elderly patients in particular can't work out who is who.
Btw closing down my local A&E means if I have a heart attack I have a 45 minute journey before I get any proper help. Oh yes, I know the paramedics are trained but a ride down country roads ain't gonna help me much.
I've got another tip re dealing with superbugs. How about making sure the cleaning staff actually clean? I was in hospital for ten days following the botched birth of my son - for the entire time a huge clot of blood - like a piece of liver - from another mum remained lodged in the plug hole of the bathroom I had to use. (Fortunately I was only allowed showers at that point.) I was way, way too ill to deal with it - and, more to the point, why should I have had to? It was visible to anyone who used that bathroom - that it was never cleaned up (in what is considered a flagship hospital) gives a massive pointer as to one area that needs dealing with sharpish. So what steps are you taking to make sure hospitals are cleaned properly on a daily basis?
The Project 2000 way of training nurses has led to a reduction in their practical skills ,a ward full of health care assistants some trained to NVQ3 level some untrained.
The trained nurse is left to do drug rounds and paperwork rarely clapping eyes on the patients.
I think HCA's are the backbone of the ward and the NHS would fall apart without them ,but shouldn't the backbone of the ward be actual trained nurses? Research based degree courses are unsuitable for such a practical job.
Bring back the old style nurses.British nurses used to be admired the world over for their exemplary training.Sadly this is no longer the case.
So my question is ,will you change the way nurses are trained to allow them to actually care for the patients not the paperwork?
Mrs Pnut - very good question indeed. We are in Scotland and will having to spend a lot of money to attend AVT. Our DLA would cover the appointment cost but won't go anywhere near travel from Scotland.
Anyway, my own question to Mr Johnson is this. My one year old daughter is about to go on the waiting list for a cochlear implant. On the NHS she is entitled to only one implant yet she wears 2 hearing aids and is profoundly deaf in both ears. The first draft of the NICE report on implants recommended 2 for prelingual children but then withdrew that recommendation in the second draft. I wonder why. Could it be that the English PCTs campaigned for the recommendation to be withdrawn on cost grounds? I do understand that NHS resources are finite and need to be allocated on some sort of cost benefit basis. However, we are talking about an extra £20,000 per implanted child to give them a second implant which is effective for their entire life. Several other countries give 2 as a matter of course and the UK is lagging behind. Would Mr Johnson be able to comment on that?
Finally, on a more positive note, we have been extremely well supported by the various healthcare professionals involved with us as a family. She was diagnosed through the Newborn Hearing Screening Program. I cannot stress how glad I am to have had such an early diagnosis for her and I think the UNHS Program is a very good thing indeed.
1. When will the government stop pretending that seeing a paediatrician with an interest in allergy is adequate? My child has seen both allergy consultant and paediatrician (we moved) and there is no comparison. I would like to chose a hospital with an allergy consultant but I don't have that choice!
2. Alternative medicine is sometimes more cost effective than traditional medicine. Why not allow doctors to prescribe it when cheaper?
3. Please look again at the provision of dental care, if you move it is almost impossible to find an NHS dentist.
I too would also like to know about nurses pay. We are encouraged to no longer call the people we treat patients, instead clients or service users. Quite rightly we are constantly striving for a patient centered approach. We are criticised for not smiling enough, the state of our attire and for poor hand washing skills.
We are expected to take on extended roles and do more and more, paperwork and computer work levels constantly increase. And yet we are expected to do all this, smilingly when we are becoming worse and worse off due to below inflation pay rises. The recent changes to taxation means again that nurses working part time are even worse off. Unfortunately our main trade union has no backbone. I fail to see any other reason why we are valued less than teachers, say.
Also If I can raise the subject of budgets. As I understand it, the ward budget has to allow for many factors. If we have a client with expensive dressings it comes out of the wards budget. Some dressings cost thousands for a relatively short course of treatment. Some wards are more likely than others to require this type of dressing and therefore the budget suffers. Another rising cost seems to be the use of interpretors, which can cost hundreds of pounds for only a few hours work.
Also I work on a ward where the nursing staff is mainly made up of young women and there also seems to be something in the water! There have been up to four or five members of staff off on maternity leave at any one time, when the budget only allows for two. Therefore the ward budget paying for maternity leave, plus the extra cover costs incurred by this leave means that the money left for basic supplies and equipment is diminished, basically affecting client care. How can this be fair? Could there not be a central budget within each hospital to cover costs like these, which probably balance out over the whole NHS trust?
I'm sure I don't need to tell you that nurses are feeling very demoralised and undervalued. Surely for the government to want NHS clients to receive the best care this issue needs to be addressed and steps made to improve it?
Agree with the cleaning - had a cleaner come through the ward regularly (not sure why it had to be before 6am), but while she might have been able to tick a box to say that she pushed tbe broom around, no actual dust/dirt was in fact removed, just rearranged. And don't let me get started on the state of the bathrooms.
At the time I just wished Hattie Jacques would come along and lay down the law - these were obvious and fundemental problems...
And this is not to disparage the understaffed nurses or the cleaners who were probably inadequately trained contractors, but someone must surely be responsible for checking that things are in fact clean. Who are they and why are they not doing this? Not rocket science.
Why is it that despite obesity being a massive problem in this country and one which will surely put a huge strain on the NHS due to associated health risks such as diabetes, heart disease etc, do GPs not really take this seriously enough?
Why are GP's allowed to charge patients ridiculous amounts of money for a signature on a form? It doesn't take up hours of their time does it? In most cases, the recptionists fill in any bits of the form that need filled in and all GP has to do is sign it
Why do you not get a antenatal scan until 20 weeks in Bristol, this is very close to the abortion deadline should a woman need to have one and your family, friends and employer would know you were pregnant by then.
Hi Mr Johnson. Am I the first person to post a message?
I am 27 weeks pregnant expecting my 3rd child. Are you going to give mothers the choice of going private if they are not happy about their local maternity provision? I have had horrid experiences with my last 2 births that my husband and I are looking to see if we can afford to have the baby privately this time round. I cannot go to the other side of London to a better hospital because they are over stretched. What advise would you have for me? thanks
Why are formula companies able to advertise follow on milk for 6 month old babies as it is not classed as a breastfeeding substitute?? You are not able to give cow's milk to babies until they are one year's old, so how is this not a breastmilk substitute?
Sexually Transmitted Diseases are increasing. Most sexually transmitted diseases can be cured if they are diagnosed and treated in their early stages so why is access to genito-urinary medicine clinics so difficult and insufficient education being given in schools.
Hi all, We asked Alan Johnson to send a few advance answers through - as it's unlikely he's going to be able to cover everthing in the alloted time. Here they are for you to digest. He'll be back in an hour or so to talk more. Best, MNHQ
Alan Johnson: Hello everyone, and thank you for inviting me to Mumsnet. I probably won’t have time to answer all of your questions, but I’ll do my best to get through as many as I can – I’ll start with a few that were posted yesterday.
Several of you asked about breastfeeding, and support for mothers who want to breastfeed. I agree that breastfeeding is best for babies, and the government recommends breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life. More mums do breastfeed now – more than three-quarters – but breastfeeding rates are lower among mothers under 20 and those from disadvantaged groups, and so apart from all the other benefits, increasing breastfeeding will help us tackle health inequalities – a key Labour government priority. Our recent Obesity Strategy highlighted breastfeeding as a key way of reducing childhood obesity rates, and we’re doing a number of things to promote breastfeeding as the norm for mothers. A lot of that is about education, with an information campaign along with continued support for National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, a National Helpline for breastfeeding mothers, and work to ensure that maternity units have an environment that supports breastfeeding. But we also want to do more to encourage employers and businesses to support employees and customers who breastfeed.
A few questions about dentistry – I know lots of people are concerned about access to NHS dentistry, and we do need to increase access. But we should acknowledge the wider context: children’s oral health is better than it’s ever been. We are making real improvements, and we’re allocating more money to NHS dentistry, ring-fencing dental budgets until 2011, and demanding that Primary Care Trusts deliver year on year increases in the numbers of patients accessing dental services. Also, local health services now have a duty to provide urgent dental treatment to those who need it, so you can get treatment if it’s clinically necessary, even if you don’t have a regular dentist. And we’ve simplified the system of charging for dental treatment, replacing the old system of almost 400 different charges with just three charge bands and cutting the maximum charge by 50%. By the way, as you probably know, children under 18, pregnant women and women who’ve had a baby in the last 12 months are among the groups entitled to free NHS dental treatment.
On maternity services and midwife shortages – the birth rate is rising, and we need to keep pace with that. We’ve recently announced £330 million in extra funding for maternity services over the next three years, and that will pay for a substantial increase in the number of midwives – an extra 1000 by 2009, and an extra 4000 by 2012. That includes encouraging former midwives back into the profession with a “golden hello” package with a grant, free training and help with childcare and travel costs – we want to bring back the expertise of good midwives who’ve left the NHS. This will help us with our commitment to deliver by 2009 choice for all women in where and how they have their baby and what pain relief to use, depending on their circumstances. We’ll also give more choice in antenatal and postnatal care.
Sfxmum asked about MMR – why not make single vaccines available on the NHS? Well, the simple answer to that is that MMR is safe. There just isn’t any credible evidence linking MMR to autism and bowel disease, and more and more evidence that there is no link. We have to base our policies on the evidence available, and the evidence says that MMR is the safest way to protect children against measles, mumps and rubella. We don’t offer single vaccines because this involves more appointments, and more chances that children will miss appointments or catch measles, mumps or rubella in the gaps between the vaccines – if we offered single vaccines, more children would get ill. About 85% of children have received their MMR vaccine by their 2nd birthday, and this figure is going up. That’s good news. But obviously lots of parents are concerned: getting the facts on MMR is really important, and for more on this you should visit http://www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk.
Yes GH I was thinking the same. Isn't it something like 3/4 of mums leave hospital BF'ing? How many mums do that but then give up within 2 weeks? I know lots.
He should be quoting how many are breastfeeding to the 6 months as that is the government's recommendation. All GPS have a record at the 4 month vaccination appointment of how the baby is being fed he could use that then he can see the real sorry state of breastfeeding rates in the UK. Arrgggghhhhhh.
78% start bfing. At 1 week this drops to 63%, at 6 weeks 48%, and 6 months 25%.
At 6 months, less than 1% are exclusively bfing.
On the support boards here, we hear time and time again about the lack of community support to keep bfing exclusively, and about HCPs who give advice directly against the national and international recommendations to bf exclusively to 6 months, and to continue bfing to 2 years or beyond. We also hear that HVs have no obligation to keep up to date with breastfeeding advice, and so continue to give information that they received 20 years or more ago.
Why is it that we are encouraged to have regular dental check-ups, but not regular health check-ups? Surely an annual / bi-annual check up for weight, blood pressure, cholesterol etc would flag up problems early and save money in the long run.
will you point those figures out again in 20 mins cmotdibbler - I doubt he's gonna actually read the thread! He'll have minions picking the questions I imagine...
regarding the answers I agree on MMR but I know quite a lot of people who do singles and other who avoid it altogether, Tony Blair's answer quoting privacy did not help matters
about breast feeding a proper campaign aimed at boys and girls long before they become parents is probably best along with contraception education and a more realistic view of what bringing up baby really entails
Why doesn't the NHS focus more on preventative medicine?
An example is pregnancy nutrition advice. Pregnant women are given relentlessly negative and often hysterical advice in this country - don't eat too much tuna, don't eat runny eggs, avoid nuts etc - instead of focussing on the good and positive ways you can help your chances of having a healthy baby, by trying to eat a really good overall diet.
It also seems a bit odd that hospitals lecture pregnant women about what not to eat yet allow Burger King etc. in many hospital food courts. What can be the possible justification for this ( other than balancing the books)?
Alan, I think you have chosen to quote the ‘best’ figures on breastfeeding
From the 2005 infant feeding survey:
78% start bfing. At 1 week this drops to 63%, at 6 weeks 48%, and 6 months 25%.
At 6 months, less than 1% are exclusively bfing.
On the support boards here, we hear time and time again about the lack of community support to keep bfing exclusively, and about HCPs who give advice directly against the national and international recommendations to bf exclusively to 6 months, and to continue bfing to 2 years or beyond. We also hear that HVs have no obligation to keep up to date with breastfeeding advice, and so continue to give information that they received 20 years or more ago.
Its also very apparent that there is little publicity regarding the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months, and virtually no support for those mothers who work and breastfeed, especially beyond 6 months.
On another note, would you like to comment on why the NHS, which should have the greatest buying power of any healthcare system in the world, doesn’t buy equipment centrally to exercise that buying power ? This wastes many millions of pounds a year on capital equipment costs alone.
Hello everyone. Really pleased to be with you today even though it's meant me travelling to North London! As a South Londoner I'll go anywhere for Mumsnet!
In answer to Branshott - there is a debate about the value of annual/bi-annual check ups particularly because of the concern that GP surgeries, pharmacies etc will be full of the worried well whilst those people who are particularly prone to certain diseases are not catered for.Nevertheless you will have seen our announcement recently about vascular checks where everyone between 40 and 74 will be seen on a call and re-call basis every 5 years which will really help in the fight to prevent illnesses such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes.
"Several of you asked about breastfeeding, and support for mothers who want to breastfeed. I agree that breastfeeding is best for babies, and the government recommends breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life. More mums do breastfeed now – more than three-quarters – but breastfeeding rates are lower among mothers under 20 and those from disadvantaged groups, and so apart from all the other benefits, increasing breastfeeding will help us tackle health inequalities – a key Labour government priority. Our recent Obesity Strategy highlighted breastfeeding as a key way of reducing childhood obesity rates, and we're doing a number of things to promote breastfeeding as the norm for mothers. A lot of that is about education, with an information campaign along with continued support for National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, a National Helpline for breastfeeding mothers, and work to ensure that maternity units have an environment that supports breastfeeding. But we also want to do more to encourage employers and businesses to support employees and customers who breastfeed."
The Government recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life - if it doesn't recommend breastfeeding beyond that, why is follow-on still allowed to be sold, since it's very clearly a breastmilk substitute.
The National Helpline is to be applauded, but the funding is lamentable compared with the number of women who start breastfeeding in this country - and I have had to dig to find information about it - it's not been advertised much. Smoking cessation gets FAR more support - the NHS has a dedicated helpline, etc. We know women want to breastfeed, we know breastfeeding is best for babies AND for mothers - and, I believe, for society as a whole - why isn't there more funding being put into breastfeeding support across the country?
"The current UK position regarding baby milk legislation has been likened to the practice of securing your home by locking the front door and all the windows but failing to close the backdoor. It gives the baby feeding industry in the UK the key to the expansion of the baby milk market - the use of the health care system as a market place. The NHS is left to pick up the costs - estimated to be £35 million for gastroenteritis alone" (http://www.babyfeedinglawgroup.org.uk/resources/whychangelaw.html)
£35 million is a lot of money that, if a decent breastfeeding strategy existed in the UK, could be diverted into other areas of the NHS. It would only take one generation of properly trained healthcare workers to bring about a change in thinking - hospitals ought to be told they have to go Baby Friendly (NICE says the BF standards should be the MINIMUM), for instance. Or maybe, and this is a bit radical, admittedly - make breastfeeding training and updates mandatory for all NHS staff - it currently isn't, which is outrageous.
Have you signed the Breastfeeding Manifesto, Mr Johnson? http://www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk/mp_supporters.php It would appear not, but I would urge you to do so.
I could go on... Some would say I already have. Please feel free to visit me at www.howbreastfeedingworks.com
I'd like to second VVVs question about follow on milk, and also ask why the formula companies still aren't complying with the 2005 legislation, and have been allowed to delay the 2008 ?
Would you like to show your support of the breastfeeding manifesto ?
Also, with Northwick Park Hospital in the news again with a second closure of its maternity services in 18 months, and the wildly varying standards of maternity care in the UK, what plans do the Government have to improve services across the board for pregnant women and new mothers?
I'd also like to question the labelling on baby food that still indicates a suitability age range of 4-6 months, which is in direct conflict with the Governments 6 months exclusive breastfeeding recommendation. Why is this allowed to happen and what are you doing about it?
There have been many points being made here about breast feeding including a question as to whether this was a Government priority. It is and it's also something that I feel very strongly about. The issue emerges in various departments, for instance our move to increase maternity leave orginally to 26 weeks and soon to 52 weeks was in part driven by the fact that we've been signed up to the WHO policy of encouraging breastfeeding for the first 6 months for many years but our maternity provision didn't reflect this policy. Many of the points that have been made here about the disparity between information and advice and poor training for some midwives and nurses about the importance of breastfeeding are ones that I will take away and talk to colleagues in the Department about. We want to improve the situation particularly given that as some correspondents have said that many women give up having initially been persuaded to breastfeed and there is obviously more we could be doing in this area. As already mentioned our policy on health inequalities will address breastfeeding because of the evidence that those from more deprived backgrounds are less likely to breastfeed and our policy on tackling obesity already has a major element relating to breastfeeding. Finally, on the question on infant and follow-on formula we have recently implemented new regulations with the Food Standards Agency to more strictly control advertising of all types of Formulae to ensure that breastfeeding is not undermined by the marketing of such products. I believe that the FSA have finished consulting on draft guidance notes for the regulations and will publish them shortly. An independently chaired review will be formed to look at the arrangements - and I hope Mumsnet will be a crucial part of this review which will begin next month.
Yes why is 6 month follow on milk not considered a breastfeeding alternative under legislation and the formula companies able to advertise. I was sent formula sachets to my home after they got my details when I was in hospital I think via a bounty women who I had no idea who she was as I had only delived 45 minutes earlier!!!
Mr JOhnson said: "In answer to Branshott - there is a debate about the value of annual/bi-annual check ups particularly because of the concern that GP surgeries, pharmacies etc will be full of the worried well "
Wouldn't it be better to have clinics full of 'worried well' rather than the current approach where many people only reach the NHS in an emergency?
This concept of 'worried well' is a politician's excuse for not doing anything.
I think that Branshott's point was that these annual check-ups should be a universal right, reaching everyone, in order to prevent worse - and more expensive - long term illness.
Mr JOhnson said: "In answer to Branshott - there is a debate about the value of annual/bi-annual check ups particularly because of the concern that GP surgeries, pharmacies etc will be full of the worried well "
Wouldn't it be better to have clinics full of 'worried well' rather than the current approach where many people only reach the NHS in an emergency?
This concept of 'worried well' is a politician's excuse for not doing anything.
I think that Branshott's point was that these annual check-ups should be a universal right, reaching everyone, in order to prevent worse - and more expensive - long term illness.
Would you like to put a bid wodge of cash Mumsnet's way to trawl for our expert opinions (like a big focus group), and in return we'll help to shape Govt health policy?
We'd love to be part of the review - however, the regulations do not cover follow on milk, and fail to include press placement such as we saw recently in OK magazine. I also believe that Trading Standards find it hard to enforce the current legislation, and that the manufacturers have been given outrageously long times to comly.
Baby foods should also be covered to ensure that complementary foods are not labelled as suitable under 6 months.
What is the Secretary of State’s Department doing to help ensure that parents get help to support their children’s language development? I read recently that in some areas between 40-50% of children have some form of communication difficulty.
Does the Secretary of State recognise that for mums and dads of children with these difficulties, getting information and access to services is a major worry?
To the question Itscoldtoday and others asked on the question of choice - choice is not an end in itself, it's a mean to an end, the end itself being better quality. It's not the only way of achieving better quality but it's an important facet of achieving better quality healthcare. I think that the view of the NHS was that people should be grateful for what they received whereas if you wanted things like choice and a more personalised service that was somehow the exclusive provision of the private sector. Of course we want every hospital to be of the highest quality and most of them are. However, somebody going in for a hip replacement will want to know what the rate of healthcare acquired infections is; what the food is like; the visiting times etc and may want to have the operation in a hospital closer to where their family lives. The vast majority of people will go to their local hospital but it seems to me to be an anomoly in the 21st century for us to insist that whereas citizens have choice in so many areas of their live now that it should somehow cease when they enter the portals of the NHS. Incidentally, now that we have established the single tarrif so that the NHS pays the same amount for eg a hip operation wherever it takes place, it means that we can utilise private hospitals to ensure that we have adequate capacity and that we don't go back to waiting times of 2 years and more as happened under the previous government
Sorry, and yet again, you've missed the fact that breastfeeding should be exclusively for 6 months, and continue for 2 years.
Infant nutrition is vital as it shapes a childs future health in terms of obesity, diabetes, allergies and autoimmune conditions, which is why marketing, advertising and labelling is crucial in this area.
We know that parents and families fail to get good support from their HCPs, and so are very vunerable to the sophisticated marketing of companies like Nestle
To the question asked by monkeybird, JT, willow etc on hygeine, cleaning and superbugs - to be frank I don't think that the NHS treated this as the high priority issue that it is. There was a certain complacency in the system which is thankfully being eliminated. NHS frontline workers knew how important cleanliness was but it didn't figure large enough in the overall priorities. In terms of what we're doing now, it's not just deep clean - there is no single solution to the problem and deep clean was symbolic of the need to ensure the highest standards of cleanliness and hygeine. The three crucial areas remain - hand washing, responsible prescribing of anti-biotics and isolation facilities with cohort nursing. The latest stats show MRSA rates down by 18% on the previous quarter; C.Diff down by 21%. Across Europe most countries are seeing an increase. The question of nurses uniforms often comes up. There is actually no evidence that this is a major part of the problem. However, in many trusts nurses are not encouraged to wear uniforms outside of the hospital because if the public perceive this to be part of the problem it helps public confidence to ensure that it doesn't happen. We wouldn't dictate this kind of issue from Whitehall and it is a matter for local Acute Trusts.
Why do you have to wait until you are 20 weeks pregnant to get a scan in some parts of the country I'm in Bristol? Mine was at 23 weeks what would have happened if I had needed an abortion, it would have been carried out past the legal limit and everyone would have known I was pregnant as I would have been showing and the emotional trauma I don;t even what to think about it. Will you change policy that every women gets a scan at 12 weeks.
My daughter was referrred to the speech and language threrapy service when she was 2 years and 9 months. She had her initial assessment 8 weeks after that, was put on the waiting list, and was given her follow up appointment 13 months after that, when she had already turned 4.
Is this due to a crisis in recruitment or funding? Are there targets for SALT waiting lists?
In response to saffy1 and others - as I said to somebody who asked me this yesterday I think Gordon Brown is a serious man for serious times. If you want somebody who will invite the cameras in while he shakes out the shreddies over breakfast he's not your man and he won't be telling how many girls he kissed behind the bike shed. That's not to say that Gordon's not good company - he's just a very private man and he is absolutely focused on the major problems which this country faces. I suppose you wouldn't expect me to say anything other than this, but I really do believe that he's a good man, leading a good government that's doing good things.
I think the NHS cleaners did treat it as a high priority - when it was inhouse and there was a cleaner with responsibility for a particular area, so they had real pride in keeping their ward spotless.
I have worked in the NHS before and after cleaning became an outsourced area, and it was patently obvious that it was at that point that standards slipped hugely. Cleaning was then just treated as something that someone would pop in and do once per day, rather than the continuous process that could occur before. And anyone who has no feedback or feeling of responsibility for their job, just won't clean to the same standards.
) on Weds lunchtime and come and pose your questions in person. 
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