Pressure Points: the case for better postnatal care

More often than not if you see media coverage of maternity care, it will focus on birth. It’s understandable. It’s a moment of joy and relief, the moment a new life enters the world. I am not complaining. The media coverage that maternity care receives because of this life-changing event strengthens the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) case for more midwives and for more resources for maternity services.

The downside, however, is that often other aspects of maternity care, postnatal care for example, get overlooked and become a ‘Cinderella’ service. This is the reason the RCM is publishing a series of reports on aspects of postnatal care under the banner, Pressure Points. These reports aim to illustrate the impact on postnatal care of the chronic underfunding and understaffing of maternity services, particularly in England.