Many women experience poor support after giving birth. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, is expected to unveil new maternity strategy next month.

'No one cared about me and my baby' - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"The hours and days after childbirth are among the most difficult in a woman's life, so why is the NHS so bad at providing support? David Harrison uncovers a tale of over-stretched staff and bureaucratic arrogance

Karen Linnett was "exhausted and anxious" after giving birth to Billy, two years ago. "He was my first child. I was in pain, hormonal and nervous that I couldn't cope," she says. Six days later, when she left hospital to take Billy home to Hampstead, north London, she was soothed by an assurance that a community midwife would visit her next morning.

But the midwife didn't turn up. Ms Linnett, a photographer, became worried. Concerned that Billy was not feeding properly, she rang to ask what was happening. There was no answer. She left messages. Hours later she was told no one would come for four days. "I lost it," she says. "I was shouting at them hysterically because I was scared."

A midwife was found and she finally arrived at 7pm. "When she weighed Billy, the scales showed he had lost weight," says Ms Linnett, 43. "But she told me not to worry because the scales were inaccurate.""

"The Government admits that the situation is unacceptable. Next month Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, is expected to unveil a new maternity strategy that will guarantee every woman a named midwife to care for her throughout her pregnancy and during labour, helped by a maternity support worker."

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Warning about higher risks from home births

Health watchdog gives warning on higher risks of home births

Extract:

"Women should be warned that babies born at home have a higher risk of dying, the health watchdog warns today. But prospective mothers should still be offered the choice of a home birth, as well as going to a midwife unit or hospital.

Final draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) suggests that women should be reassured that the risk of their baby dying during childbirth is low wherever they are born - 5.1 deaths per 1,000 births - although risks are higher if serious complications occur at home, rather than in hospital. The draft guidance, in a move that is likely to confuse some expectant mothers, also stresses that they should be told that the research into the various risks is variable and that the evidence is uncertain.

A Canadian study in 1999 found three perinatal deaths among 860 home births, one among 733 births in consultant-led units and no deaths among 563 born in midwife-led units. The new guidance recommends that more research and monitoring of the relative risks is needed, something the Department of Health is about to commission. The government's planned maternity strategy will aim to guarantee that by 2009 every woman will have a choice of whether she gives birth at home, in a birthing centre, or in a hospital."