Live webchat with shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, Tues 24 Feb, 12-12.45pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We're welcoming Andrew Lansley as our webchat guest on Tues 24 Feb. He's interested in Mumsnetters' take on the Tories' research about women in labour being turned away from maternity units. Please join us if you can, or post questions in advance if you can't make it on the day.

As you were, ladies.

Could have been worse, AnyFucker could have been here.

Cmotdibbler, Yes - this is, I think, the Albany community midwifery team in Peckham, South East London. It is very important we enable midwives to act together as a team to provide the continuity of care which mothers clearly value

LOL! [grin}

Sorry Andrew. This is all very MumsNet!

oh i didnt read correctly.just read the thread title,thought it was general health format

apologies

Boffinmum, you mentioned Midwife Led Birthing Units. These units are included in our data; we need to see how more mothers can have a 'home from home'birth.

ScottishMummy, Yes. It was a scandal in 2006 when newly qualified midwives couldn't find posts. Now we have unfilled vacancies. We need our nursing and midwifery education and training to be more consistently related to workforce plans. Unfortunatley, it took several years before the Government woke up to the fact that the birth rate was rising after 2001.

But enabling them to work as a team is rather different to asking them and resourcing them to work in different ways. I for instance, live in a rural area where the nearest maternity units are 30 minutes to regular care, an hour to SCBU level care on a good day. There is just not the density of women here to enable the kind of practice that Albany have. After all, we have a health visitor 2 hours a week for approx 300 sq mile GP catchment.

Hi - I agree with Slalomsuki that there is a real crisis with special care beds for newborns, which impacts upon where mothers give birth. For example, people from Slough being airlifted to Manchester. I think a really cost-effective way of freeing up special care beds would be to make it illegal for IVF clinics to implant more than 1 embryo, as twins/triplets need special care in 50% of cases. This wouldn't cost the Conservatives any money and of course would need to be carefully reviewed, but it really would make the experience of families who require special care beds much less traumatic by easing up the pressure on the number of beds required.

To 'Scottish Mummy' - The Darzi Review contains of lot of good material about the kind of services we want. It is less clear about how it is to be delivered. Emphasising quality is right, but setting up a National Quality Board isn't enough. Quality comes from professional staff, empowered and equipped to provide the care, properly accountable to the public for the services they provide, responsive to choice, and accountable for outcomes.

Bliss 2008 report NeoNatal units regularly forced to close due to staff shortages or undertake inappropriate transfers due to pressure on beds

do you plan to recruit more NICU/SCBU staff.how would you encourage retention of staff and more units open

Thanks for responses, Andrew.

There is a thread on MN at the moment which argues that high risk mothers are being deprived of things like active birthing as a direct consequence of heavy investment in the Midwife Led Birthing Units, even though there are no medical grounds for doing so. In other words, if you are diabetic or whatever, you are doomed to a passive birth and subsequent obstetric intervention for no good reason, whereas 'normal' women get mood lighting, birthing balls and a cosier environment. I am wondering if again, some sort of maternity services voucher system would help women vote with their feet. Are the Tories anti-vouchers?

To Bizibee
Yes, I agree. The Government promised one to one midwifery care but have failed to deliver it. Mothers should have the option and that's what matters.

To Maiakins
Yes, I can assure you that the Conservatives are committed to an NHS free at the point of use, based on need and not ability to pay. This of course, covers NHS maternity services.

Will the conservatives deliver is the key question?

I think a linked question to ScottishMummy's might be are the Tories prepared to maintain unused capacity in SCBU (and indeed hospitals) as there is probably a trend here started under the Thatcher administration, in reducing 'surplus' capacity to the bone to 'improve efficiency'. Sort fo 'just in time healthcare'.

Yes, one of the first things the Dr said to me when I was in prem labour was that it was really good news that there was actually a bed for my DS at the hospital. They didn't tell me that in order to keep the SCBU at that hospital open, there was no consultant paediatrician there and it was entirely nurse led. Thus anything more than basic care required and your baby was blue lighted across Sussex, or worse.

Any comment on care (or lack therof) for women experiencing pregnancy loss Andrew ? Your opponents promised us a review, but we've heard nothing so far

if you put one-to-one care in labour as a manifesto promise I would vote Conservative for the first time in my life, Promise!

Just a quick off topic reminder to you before you go not to forget to support the autism bill in parliament on Friday 27th.

Our pregnancy loss unit is only open during office hours. They put you next to the terminal gynae cancer patients if you have the audacity to miscarry out of hours.

Thanks for all your questions and input. Sorry I haven't been able to answer all of them in the time we've had available. But, HerBeatitudeLittleBella, you urged me to 'read and learn' and I certainly have learnt from all your stories and comments. The figures that I published about mothers being turned away from maternity wards were shocking in themselves, with an increase in closures from 400 in 2007 to 550 last year. But hearing your stories has brought home to me the fact that every one of those numbers tells an awful story about mothers being turned away from hospital at a hugely emotional time. I've enjoyed our discussion and there's lots of issues here for me to look at further.

Sadly, nearly the end of today's webchat. Thanks to everyone who has posted and to Andrew for lots of responses.

Thank you for coming on, Andrew. You have responded to more questions than I thought you would be able to in the time, and it has been really helpful.

our early preg unit just closed and so now if we find miscarriage on scan have to go to the next hosiptal

chronic shortage of level III NICU cots,due to shortage of Neonatal nurses.inadequate planning and projection meant not enough nurses trained,posts frozen as staff leave,constrained budgets

the clinical impact is huge,the sickest babies being blue lighted across regions to get a cot

will you invest in more training, recruit staff to address this.