Margie Polden Memorial Lecture: Maternity Matters: can the Government deliver?

Author(s): W. Savage - Pages: 5–11

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, the UK Government has issued a number of policy documents about maternity care. Most recently, Maternity Matters: Choice, Access and Continuity of Care in a Safe Service laid out the policy framework for future maternity services. The author reviews the evolution of maternity policy since World War II, focusing on the issue of home birth since it is a crucial area of choice that seeks to reverse the trend towards hospital delivery that occurred in almost all countries in the twentieth century. Proposals for the future are made.

Keywords: Government, home births, Maternity Matters, maternity services, policy framework.