New
recommendations on standards for the safe organisation of care
during childbirth have been issued by the Royal Colleges of
Anaesthetists (RCOA), Midwives (RCM), Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists (RCOG), and Paediatrics and Child Health
(RCPCH).
Key recommendations include:
- Women in established labour must receive individual one-to-one
care from a midwife .
- Outside the recommended minimum 40 hours of consultant
obstetrician presence on the labour ward, the consultant will
conduct a physical ward round as appropriate at least twice a day
during Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, with a physical round
every evening, reviewing midwifery-led cases on referral
- All women requiring conduction or general anaesthesia are seen
and assessed by an anaesthetist before an elective procedure
- A healthcare professional (midwife, neonatal nurse, advanced
neonatal nurse practitioner, paediatrician) trained and regularly
assessed as competent in neonatal basic life support must be
immediately available for all births, in any
setting