Hi Labour! Thanks for asking. This is what we want for maternity in your manifesto please!

High-quality maternity care for all, free at the point of need, funded to Western European standards and above. Get rid of the internal market and focus funds on frontline staff.

 Immediate removal of the charge to migrant mums

The restoration of the Bursary for midwives and nurses and related professions.

Increased funding and support for the university courses training midwives, initially and throughout their working lives.

Increased neo natal beds.

Significantly improve support for women postnatally: physically emotionally and in terms of mental health

Reinstate breastfeeding support to allow women to choose to breastfeed

Provide good quality mental health support

No women to give birth in prison.

No private companies bidding for midwifery work.

End the  personal budgets  routine.

Respect for women in all aspects of childbirth.

Major research to reduce inductions.

Not one more closure of a maternity unit, nor one bed lost.

Make the UK the safest place on earth to give birth. Its not even in the top ten at present. In 2017 in the UK, 1,267 babies who were born after 24 weeks’ gestation died in their first 28 days of life. ( Bliss) Cuba has better outcomes than the UK https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/20/health/unicef-newborn-deaths-by-country-study/index.html

Ask all the EU midwives to please, please stay.

Birth close to home is best for mother baby and the family. No more nonsense about it being ok to travel for four hours in labour

Improve ambulance services for maternity

Support home births, understanding that this is not a cheap option and will always need obstetric backup

Research and action to stop the greater risk of maternal death  to BAME mums and to significantly the numbers of BAME babies dying at birth

Reverse the terrible trend where more babies are dying under one

Focus on women’s health and reduce the number of years women live with ill health

Tackle endometriosis. Tackle extreme period pain. Tackle painful menopause Tackle infertility.

Make the NHS focus on women’s health, research into drug effects on women, and make sure the differences in women’s symptoms are well understood

Improve abortion rights

Reverse all cuts in health vistor services and reinstae a full national service for all

Fund IVF

Improve the NHS insurance system for maternity

Protect the genome projects from private companies

End the mother penalty on pay. Stop discrimination against pregnant women.

Fund our whole NHS to Western European standards, and free it from the plague of privatisation and rationing

Save Liverpool Women’s hospital, on-site. Fund Liverpool Women’s Hospital so it can thrive, to serve women and babies locally and nationally and to continue to be a centre of world expertise

7 thoughts on “Hi Labour! Thanks for asking. This is what we want for maternity in your manifesto please!”

  1. I’m overwhelmed.What a fantastic list. A profoundly compassionate, well thought out list of requests, needs, demands, expectations, rights for women, children and the families from medical, political and societal perspectives.At this advanced stage in history,  it is almost impossible to believe that women still have to ask, demand, or fight for such fundamental rights to bring children safely into the world. A time when the result of global political disruption has led to so many vulnerable women becoming displaced. Women who have lost the safety of their homes, families and medical care in their own countries, to be forced to make perilous, terrifying journeys, only to be denied maternity care in this country, and their plight wrongly used to confirm racist beliefs that immigrants are the reason our NHS is under pressure or being abused. Care before cash.This confirms how amazing our NHS is and what we as women stand to lose as the ever increasing programme of cuts and privatisation and path to a US model of health system progresses. Thank you and many congratulations on this work.Love and solidaritySueSent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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  2. Hi Felicity

    Thanks for this. It’s a great idea. 

    Don’t know if you wanted me to proofread this but there are a few amendments:

    Significanntly improve – delete extra ‘n’

    choose to breasfeed – add ‘t’ to breastfeed

    Please make significant efforts to improve workload. by recruiting training and winning back midwives and nirses burnout under the current syste, – amend spelling of ‘nurses’ and ‘system’

    Improve the NHS insurance syatem for maternity- amend spelling of system

    If it’s ok I’m going to cut & paste or maybe just share the link in my response to the email from  labour inviting ideas for our manifesto. Thanks for this Felicity,  makes it much easier & quicker to respond.

    Kind regards

    Mary

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  3. Would add : more Health Visitors ( training and employed) so that they can do intensive work with families in support and prevention as they used to.

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    1. Good point Daphne.Will alter main piece to include that! Are you up to date with situation for with Health visitors.We would like to know more

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