Our thanks to the National Childbirth Trust for allowing us to reproduce this summary of their Birth Policy.79
1. Birth and the transition to parenthood should be an experience that enriches parents' lives.
2. Maternity care should be a positive experience for women and make a significant contribution to public health, the well-being of families and the next generation.
3. Women need to feel as fit and well-prepared as possible if they are to look after their new baby, themselves and the rest of their family.
4. The maternity services should be developed and managed to increase the proportion of straightforward vaginal births.
5. The maternity services should be developed to provide women with easy access to a reliable home birth service and to midwife-led birth centres.
6. The education of midwives, obstetricians, anaesthetists, GPs and other health professionals should involve observation of birth as a normal physiological process.
7. Women's opportunities to experience a straightforward vaginal birth are dependent on midwives maintaining their knowledge of the physiological process of birth and practical midwifery skills.
8. Parents should have ready access to evidence-based information to show how health outcomes vary with different kinds of care.
9. All maternity services should be designed to enable women to get to know their main carer; and for healthy women with a straightforward pregnancy this should usually be a midwife.
10. Medical care can be invaluable for mothers and babies when there are complications or an increased chance of complications.
11. Individualised care is important; appropriate ways of providing support should be explored for each woman.
12. The living conditions of pregnant women and families with babies must be improved.
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Our thanks to the National Childbirth Trust for allowing us to reproduce this summary of their Birth Policy.79 |
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