to think we need to do something to ensure safe maternity care in the UK?

[microserf]

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/british-maternity-wards-in-crisis-2261403.html

We need to remind the government that we have a fundamental human right to safe and adequate medical care during our pregnancies, deliveries and post natally and this needs to become a critical issue for the government to deal with. They need to urgently address these staffing issues and get the trained midwives and other medical staff into hospital.

This is something I have felt strongly about for some time, and I'm furious to see the statistics released today.

Also, I am very sorry to the Ali family for the tragic loss of Sareena and her daughter.

The government needs to provide all areas of the NHS with what it needs to provide effective care for it's users, not just maternity services.

I actually think they need to focus on services for teens and the elderly before they focus on maternity care. I believe we have more 'human right' to safe and effective care when we get old or suffer chronic or terminal illnesses than we do when we are having babies out of choice.

In an ideal world we could have both!

Yes absolutely women should not focus on increasing infant mortality figures, women dying because they have not been cared for properly in pregnancy, and mothers and babies dying due to substandard care.

How absolutely selfish of them.

Also thoroughly concur that increasing numbers of women and babies dying due to inadequate care is their own fault - honestly women know that having a baby carries risks so why do the stupid bints insist on getting pregnant? Unbelievable that their families complain when they die too.

The whole thing is a damning indictment of modern selfish women if you ask me. I think women should go back to no ante-natal support and unsupported births at home. That would sort the wheat from the chaff! And save lots of money for people who really matter.

Erm, women care for chronically ill adults, elderly parents and sick teenages too.

I have a blood disorder that means when pregnant and in labour I get AMAZING care. Could not have asked for better.
However post birth was not good. I think I was jolted back to the reality of what other people go through the whole time. No bedding changes after labour/birth (discharged myself 36 hours post birth) and no info on how to manage with being on machine tied to bed if baby poos in the middle of night. IO took the machine off myself and told the morning staff the night staff had done it in the end . Had to really fight to get catheter removed and am so lucky someone told me to take my own supply of medicine in to administer myself as I really don't think I would have got any otherwise which would have been truly life threatening.
Kinda scary and I definitely think this is a priority.
Ensuing the continuity of the human life is hardly a 'choice' really is it?!

oh give over OP

Yes and women must always put those groups before themselves in pregnancy and babies.

Rising infant mortality (by 50% in some areas) is not something that should be given airtime if you ask me. I don't know what the Independent were doing publishing this when there are so many more important people to talk about.

So let's not talk about any of the tragic stories that have been reported, or the horrifying stats. Let's talk about other groups of people instead.

And like you said - people choose to have babies so why does it matter if they start dying much more than they used to. People have such a sense of entitlement.

Right then. Forget pregnant women and babies (follow the governments lead!!!) and lets talk about something else instead.

bubblecoral - yes, women have babies by choice (mostly) but that doesn't mean they should be low on the priority list. You wouldn't really like to see less funding going to maternity care would you?
Do you mean women should not be having babies then? The country would pretty much grind to a halt within a couple of generations then.
Or should only some people have babies?

We are lucky to have a system like the NHS which is free at the point of use. However why shouldn't there be a (small) charge/cost associated with delivery/maternity care? Maybe not just maternity care either, tattoo removal, gastric bands, corrective surgery when people present with infections complications from cosmetic operations etc.

I don't think that any age group takes priority over others, but I do think that a NHS that continues to fund treatment for `self inflicted' illness/injury is unsustainable and we need to address that - that way there may be more money available for impsroved pre/post natal care/delivery.

Compared to many countries we do have safe maternity care. Nothing will ever take away the risk involved in the bityhing process or the fact that in any job, some people chose to do the bare minimum which always lead to a varying level of service.

Must admit I am a bit at the solicitors comments (at the end of the article)

Absolutely, us women bring it on ourselves so why should we expect to be looked after or in some cases, treated humanely.

Op, yanbu.

I never said that funding should be taken away from maternity services, or that only some people should have babies or that we shouldn't talk about the services pregnant/postnatal women recieve.

Of course I don't think any of those things.

But I don't think that just because I am a woman, that fighting for or talking about maternity services should automatically be my priority when the subject of NHS services comes up. I do believe that some other services are in more desparate need of extra funding than maternity, mental health being just one, but I realise that that is only my opinion and others will disagree.

We all care the most about the things that affect us don't we? That doesn't mean that we don't care at all about anything else.

I don't mean to dismiss the other needs in the NHS, I was just identifying one of them. Cameron promised additional midwives and then reneged.

By all means, identify other areas of critical need and start pressuring for action.

I don't agree that getting into a discussion about prioritising different groups for treatment is the answer. I don't accept an argument that women and their babies should be harmed because we should be focussing on someone else - everyone has the right to medical care. Identifying pressing needs and remedying them is the important thing.

bubblecoral - you do however feel the need to come onto a thread started by a woman who does care about this, and tell her that it's much less important than other things, and in fact women bring it on themselves so that's even more reason not to give it any attention. In effect, tell her to shut up as the issue that she cares about is not important.

Women and children unnecessarily dying in increasing numbers in many areas due to substandard care is a perfectly reasonable thing to want to talk about, and to want to do something about.