Maternity Services: Physiotherapy

(asked on 13th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential benefits of pelvic physiotherapy in both ante natal care and post partum.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 20th December 2022

We have no current plans to make a specific assessment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidance recognises that physiotherapy is important for the prevention and treatment of pelvic floor problems relating to pregnancy and birth. The NHS Long Term Plan set out a commitment to ensure that women have access to multidisciplinary pelvic health clinics and pathways across England.

NHS England is deploying perinatal pelvic health services to improve the prevention, identification and access to physiotherapy for pelvic health issues antenatally and postnatally. Two-thirds of local maternity and neonatal systems are expected to establish these services by the end of March 2023, with full deployment in England expected by March 2024.

Reticulating Splines