Maternity Services and Paediatrics

(asked on 12th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation by Dr Bill Kirkup, published in March 2015, what steps his Department has taken to conduct a national review of the provision of maternity care and paediatrics in (a) rural areas, (b) areas that are difficult to recruit to or (c) isolated areas.


Answered by
Nadine Dorries Portrait
Nadine Dorries
This question was answered on 24th February 2020

The National Maternity Review report, ‘Better Births - Improving outcomes of maternity services in England, A Five Year Forward View for maternity care’ reviewed maternity services across the country including in rural and isolated areas. It found that in a number of rural areas, small obstetric units see a low number of births and face challenges in employing sufficient numbers of staff.

As part of the New Care Models programme, NHS England alongside the other arm’s length bodies, has established 50 vanguards to explore how new models of care can address the quality, care and efficiency challenges faced by the National Health Service; this includes services that are rural, geographically isolated or difficult to recruit to. Examples of best practice and shared learning from these Vanguard sites are continually made available to the wider NHS, through reports, publications, press and media.

Reticulating Splines