Pregnant women who are overweight or obese will be given personalised advice on healthy eating and exercise, in new guidance on antenatal care put out for consultation.
The draft quality standards consultation by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) sums up the standards of care that pregnant women should receive in England.
It covers antenatal care for all pregnant women up to 41 weeks of pregnancy, in all settings that routinely provide NHS antenatal care, including primary, community and hospital-based care.
NICE said that there were more than 700,000 babies born in England and Wales in 2010 and that the majority of them were healthy births and without complications.
However, they also note that the rate of stillbirths has altered little in the past decade, and that some women also experience, post-natal depression, blood clots, haemorrhage and blood poisoning.
The new draft quality standard includes ensuring pregnant women are cared for by a small group of healthcare professionals throughout their pregnancy.
Pregnant women with a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more at the booking appointment will be offered personalised advice from an appropriately trained professional on healthy eating and how to be physically active.
A person is considered to be overweight if they have a BMI between 25 and 29 and is defined as obese with a BMI of 30 or over.
The guidance also says that all pregnant women should also be offered fetal screening such as Down’s syndrome testing and the fetal anomaly ultrasound, in accordance with current UK National Screening Committee programmes.
Pregnant women should also be offered balanced and consistent advice about breastfeeding and given the opportunity to discuss it.
Dr Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive and director of health and social care at NICE said, ‘Pregnancy is an exciting, important time in a woman’s life. However, many women still experience serious problems during this period.
‘We are, therefore, very pleased to be publishing this draft quality standard for antenatal care, which will contribute to improving the effectiveness, safety and experience of care for pregnant women. Registered stakeholders now have the opportunity to submit their comments on the draft quality standard via the NICE website.’
The final standards are expected to be published in September.
It covers antenatal care for all pregnant women up to 41 weeks of pregnancy, in all settings that routinely provide NHS antenatal care, including primary, community and hospital-based care.
NICE said that there were more than 700,000 babies born in England and Wales in 2010 and that the majority of them were healthy births and without complications.
However, they also note that the rate of stillbirths has altered little in the past decade, and that some women also experience, post-natal depression, blood clots, haemorrhage and blood poisoning.
The new draft quality standard includes ensuring pregnant women are cared for by a small group of healthcare professionals throughout their pregnancy.
Pregnant women with a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more at the booking appointment will be offered personalised advice from an appropriately trained professional on healthy eating and how to be physically active.
A person is considered to be overweight if they have a BMI between 25 and 29 and is defined as obese with a BMI of 30 or over.
The guidance also says that all pregnant women should also be offered fetal screening such as Down’s syndrome testing and the fetal anomaly ultrasound, in accordance with current UK National Screening Committee programmes.
Pregnant women should also be offered balanced and consistent advice about breastfeeding and given the opportunity to discuss it.
Dr Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive and director of health and social care at NICE said, ‘Pregnancy is an exciting, important time in a woman’s life. However, many women still experience serious problems during this period.
‘We are, therefore, very pleased to be publishing this draft quality standard for antenatal care, which will contribute to improving the effectiveness, safety and experience of care for pregnant women. Registered stakeholders now have the opportunity to submit their comments on the draft quality standard via the NICE website.’
The final standards are expected to be published in September.
