Improve maternity standards, says MP (From Echo)

Improve maternity standards, says MP

9:00am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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AN MP has told hospital bosses they must improve standards of maternity care and create better leadership.

Labour’s Angela Smith said health chiefs at Basildon Hospital had to learn from a recent review of maternity services carried out by the Nursery and Midwifery Council.

The council’s report highlights how the safety of pregnant women is being compromised at the hospital, as 50 per cent of mums-to-be are left alone while in labour.

It was also critical of leadership and says communication channels between senior staff and those on the wards must be improved.

Basildon MP Mrs Smith said: “We need to get the best from those in management positions in order to get the best from the rest of the staff.

“The key priority also has to be ensuring as many vacant midwife posts are filled as quickly as possible.

“Hospital bosses have to take all of these findings on board.”

The hospital currently has the highest number of midwife vacancies in the whole of the east of England, despite having to deal with a 25 per cent rise in the number of babies being born there over the past eight years.

Mrs Smith added: “I know from speaking to local mums how amazing the work of many midwives at the hospital is and how much they give to their job.

“They are working in difficult circumstances a lot of the time and many of them put their heart and souls into their jobs.”

A spokesman for Basildon Hospital was unavailable to comment by the time we went to press.