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10 September 2009
Pregnancy, giving birth and those first few days with a new born baby should be the most magical moment of most families’ lives.
Unfortunately, in Tooting it is for many people an experience blighted by the poor quality of our local maternity
service provided at St George’s Hospital.
Last year the Healthcare Commission said that
St George’s is one of the worst hospitals in the country for maternity care. They gave St George’s the worst ratings possible for :
• Average time between first making contact
and booking appointment
• Percentage of women offered an informed
choice for screening tests
• Appropriate involvement of obstetricians and
midwives in ante-natal care
They also gave St George’s very low ratings for:
• Women not receiving NICE recommended
number of ante-natal appointments
• Availability of NICE recommended screening
• Appropriate use of caesarean sections
• Maternal morbidity
• Post-natal care of women and babies
• Extent that staff are trained in core maternity skills
• Choice and continuity for ante-natal care
• Extent of choice in labour
• Support for infant feeding
• Quality of support in caring for the baby after discharge
• Percentage of women who considered their
length of stay was about right
• Women’s view of cleanliness of delivery and
post-natal areas
• Average cost per delivery
St George’s is a safe hospital for mothers to give birth in. But fixing these care and choice problems is a top priority for Mark Clarke, the Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Tooting. He has met
with St George’s Hospital and NHS Wandsworth to offer improvement suggestions. It is early days but there are signs that things may be getting a little better.
Who ’s fault is it?
It is not the fault of the overstretched midwives,
doctors and nurses. St George’s was designed for 3,000 births a year, but handles 5,000.
The problem is the Government will not invest
in maternity ignoring the impact of increased
immigration and our “nappy valley” profile.
Action that Mark has taken:
Mark interviewed dozens of new mums to get their improvement ideas. Mark persuaded St George’s to install chairs in the showers.
Staff have no time to help mums have
showers - even if they have just had a caesarean. So chairs may make showering a little easier.
Mark convinced St George’s to put more senior
nurses on duty at night in the post-natal ward. Mark brought Anne Milton MP, the Conservative’s Shadow Minister for Maternity, to St George’s
Hospital to see for herself what is going on.
How can you help ?
Email Mark on mark@markclarke.net with your
maternity stories so he can see how things are improving and raise any issues with managers. If you are having a baby please be sympathetic to hospital staff. They are trying their best to make every birth magical even when overstretched.
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