Letters
Attention should be paid to what women want
EDITOR,--Jim Neilson highlights the significant increase in maternal anxiety that may be provoked by reducing the number of routine antenatal visits.1 2 This reduction is one of 10 "key indicators of success" listed in the report Changing Childbirth,3 which must be implemented by 1998.4 Maternity services should become more "woman centred," with balanced input from midwives, general practitioners, and obstetricians, according to each woman's needs. Some of the key indicators should increase women's feeling of involvement in their pregnancy care, but others seem directive and inflexible and have little supportive evidence at either national or local level.
We surveyed 332 unselected women (beyond 34 weeks of pregnancy) attending our hospital antenatal clinic; 40% were nulliparous and 60% multiparous. The hospital serves an urban population in north east England and has 4000 deliveries a year. A consultant led, shared care system is used, with women at "low risk" attending the hospital at
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- Antenatal care on trial
- Jim Neilson
BMJ 1996 312: 524-525.[Extract] [Full Text]
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