Maternity shake-up... for dads
EXPECTANT fathers will be encouraged to get more involved in the care of their babies under new plans for the NHS.
Men will attend more antenatal appointments and no longer be sent home following a birth after a shake-up of maternity services north of the Border.
A strategy due to be published will also set out how mothers and babies will be looked after in the future.
Scotland’s chief midwifery adviser Ann Holmes told the Royal College of Midwives conference in Harrogate the Government wants all mothers and babies to be given a ‘familycentred approach to their care, recognising their own circumstances and preferences’.
It wants ‘fathers, partners and other family members’ to be ‘actively encouraged and supported to become an integral part of all aspects of maternal and newborn care’.
The shake-up will be unveiled later this year but could include more overnight accommodation for partners of women in labour or those who have just given birth and an end to the practice of sending fathers home after delivery.
Speaking earlier this year about the review, Mrs Holmes said: ‘We’ve heard about the importance of fathers, enabling them to be involved throughout the pregnancy journey and having them enabled to stay with the mother during pregnancy or after birth.’
Gillian Smith, director of the Royal College of Midwives in Scotland, stressed how important it is for both parents to feel included when they are expecting a baby.
She said: ‘I have been pushing for this for a long time. Fathers really want to be involved and see themselves as an essential part of the pregnancy journey and sometimes in the past they have not felt so involved.’
David Marshall, national development officer for charity Dads Rock, welcomed the review, saying: ‘My experience was, “oh you must be the dad, you go and sit in the corner”, and other fathers have experienced that as well.’
Yesterday, a Scottish Government spokesman would not comment ahead of the publication of the review report, which he said would happen ‘in due course’.