Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Six week window to reduce new mothers’ stroke and heart attack risk by 1/3

Paul
New mothers’ suffering from hypertension face a crucial six week window to reduce their blood pressure and reduce the future risk of heart attack or stroke. New research conducted by a team from the University of Oxford funded by the British Heart Foundation, also discovered that giving women blood pressure monitors......
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The BL3 Maternity Hub – Breaking Down Barriers to Care in Bolton

Paul
The BL3 Maternity Hub in Bolton is a ground breaking new maternity service, set up to ensure that the diverse language and cultural experiences of Bolton’s multi ethnic community are not barriers to safe and comprehensive maternity care. As has been widely reported there is a significant disparity in pregnancy......
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Breastfeeding During the Pandemic

Paul
Breastfeeding rates in the UK are some of the lowest, globally, and the challenges posed to new parents have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many support groups for those breastfeeding disappeared overnight, and a lack of face-to-face support from both peer, charity, and professional supports developed. However, data published......
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It’s Kick-Off on Maternity

Paul
A weekend announcement of £2 million for an RCOG review into preventing brain injuries during birth looks like a smart pre-emptive announcement ahead of today’s publication of the long awaited Select Committee report into Safety in Maternity Services. A few weeks ago NHS England announced £96 million more on maternity......
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Cut adrift: Pandemic leaves 16,000 pregnant women and new mothers without mental health support

Paul
Up to 1 in 5 women will experience mental health problems in pregnancy or after birth and two thirds of women will hide or underplay their illness. These figures can only be expected to have been exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 and yet new research by the Royal College......
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Disproportionate levels of bullying and racism in obstetrics and gynaecology

Paul
Young medics working in obstetrics and gynaecology are more likely to experience bullying and racism, and less likely to receive support than colleagues in other specialisms new data reveals. Reporting on comments made by Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC at the recent NHS Confederation conference, the Daily Telegraph......
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Listening to fathers’ voices – #dadsMHday

Paul
This week we marked International Fathers’ Mental Health Day, an annual event aimed at highlighting the unique mental health strengths and needs that fathers have. According to a recent survey, an alarming 65% of dads admit that having children negatively impacted their mental health, citing the top 5 contributing factors......
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