Wednesday, 18th January 2012
Access to antenatal care and more midwives can contribute to tackling stillbirth rate
Commenting on the report - Preventing Babies’ Deaths: what needs to be done – from the charity Sands published today (Wednesday, 18th January 2012) Gail Johnson, education and professional development advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “It is important that all practitioners involved in maternity care are aware of the risks associated with stillbirth and that work continues to explore how stillbirth can be reduced. Ensuring that all mothers have access to high quality antenatal care delivered by midwives is the first step towards having a healthy mother and baby at the end of pregnancy. Midwives are in a position to provide women and families with information and support to minimise risks and poor outcomes.
“However, to ensure that antenatal care and parenting education is appropriately delivered we need to have enough midwives to deliver the care. Our own survey late last year showed that access to antenatal classes is often poor, particularly for women on low incomes.
“Current antenatal screening cannot identify all babies at risk, and research into how best midwives and doctors can deliver antenatal care to reduce stillbirth is welcomed. Sharing information, skills and expertise in an open forum will further raise awareness of stillbirth, and an open and honest standardised review of stillbirths and neonatal deaths will help add to the body of knowledge to inform future research and practice.”
For more information contact the RCM Press Office on 020 7312 3456, pressofficer@rcm.org.uk.
Notes to editors
The Royal College of Midwives is the voice of midwifery. We are the UK’s only trade union and professional organisation led by midwives for midwives. The vast majority of the midwifery profession are our members. The RCM promotes midwifery, quality maternity services and professional standards. We support and represent our members individually and collectively in all four UK countries. We influence on behalf of our members and for the interests of the women and families for which they care. For more information visit the RCM website at www.rcm.org.uk.
