... that clean your house and take notes... whats going on here??!

A Conservative government would aim to provide a dedicated maternity nurse for every new mother in their home for up to six hours a day in the first week after the baby's birth under radical plans to transform UK maternity care.

In a major shift in direction, which will prompt charges that the Tories are embracing the 'nanny state', David Cameron has told his front bench to examine plans that would lead to the appointment of thousands of new maternity nurses. He is impressed by a ground-breaking Dutch system under which nurses have a range of duties in the first week after birth, including:

· Showing new mothers how to breastfeed and bathe their baby;
· Looking after older children and making sure healthy meals are provided;
· Taking care of laundry and light household cleaning;
· Monitoring visitors to the mother's home to ensure that rest times are not interrupted;
· Keeping a diary with details of the mother and baby's progress for use by doctors and midwives.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...03/health.nhs1

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StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

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This would be a fabulous support for new mums - although I can see that not everyone would welcome this level of input.

It's all very well being impressed with a system in another country, but if the government will not pay for enough midwives to provide good care under the current system, or pay those midwives a salary which is commensurate with their skills and responsibility, where are they going to find the money for these thousands of new posts. And where are they going to find the staff? Where and how (and what)would they be trained?

Aaaahhhhhhhh - maybe they are planning that these staff will reduce the need for midwivess. Or maybe they could be planning to cull the tiers of managers???......

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Love Dory xxx
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Being a new mum myself, I am certain that I would not have welcomed this level of care. Those first weeks at home where for me and hubbie and baby to get to know each other. The care we recieved from my team of midwifes and Health visitors was fantastic. We were shown how to bath baby in the hospital ward and there were dedicated areas for breastfeeding mums with support available when and if needed. Rather than the money being spent on people coming into your home to do "light" duties, the money could be put to use in many other more urgent areas.