Under the new NHS guidelines, all health trusts in England have been requested to review their current policies after pregnant women in some locations have had to attend scans and appointments on their own during the pandemic – with some not being able to have their birth partner with them through all stages of labour.
The support person, who does not need to be the co-parent, should be regarded as ‘an integral part of both the woman and baby's care’ - not just a visitor.
All trusts should now make it easy for this to happen, while keeping the risk of coronavirus transmission within NHS maternity services as low as possible.
The guidance says pregnant women ‘value the support from a partner, relative, friend or other person through pregnancy and childbirth, as it facilitates emotional wellbeing’.
Women should therefore have access to support ‘at all times during their maternity journey’, during scans, appointments, labour, birth, and their immediate postnatal period.
Campaigners took to Twitter to express their relief that the guidance had changed.
Birthrights, who campaigned to reinstate support partners during the pandemic, tweeted, ‘Delighted to see the revised guidance for visiting maternity services, recognising that #partnersarenotvisitors, that they are a "key component of safe and personalised maternity care" who should be included throughout.'
Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, welcomed the new guidance, but raised concerns about safety and queried the use of rapid tests to assess risk.
‘We hope the roll out of rapid testing will increase the time partners who test negative can spend with women and their babies on antenatal and postnatal wards, although we have concerns about the capacity and sensitivity of lateral flow testing to enable maternity services to reopen fully.
He added, ‘With increasing prevalence of the virus in many areas and more than 60 per cent of the country under Tier 3 restrictions, decisions about visiting and access for partners and families will need to be based on local information and testing capacity, and clearly communicated to women and their families.’
Support for babies
Meanwhile, Andrea Leadsom MP led a debate in Westminster Hall on the Provision of healthcare support services in the period between conception and age two on Tuesday, ahead of the launch of the first findings from the Early Years Healthy Development review, due in January.
She called on the Minister to think about what more can be done for the 1,800 babies born every day in England.
Speaking about the one in seven women and up to one in 10 new dads suffering post-natal depression before lockdown, she said, ‘We can only begin to imagine how many more families are struggling today.’
Ms Leadsom urged the minister to consider allowing ‘new families at least two other supporting family members to bubble with them, or two other individuals if they are a lone parent’.
She added, ‘I also encourage her to make sure that health visitors and early years health services remain available and accessible face-to-face for everybody.’
Minister Jo Churchill MP spoke about the crucial role of health visitors, and midwives stating, ‘A good health visitor can change a life, when it comes to moving on. An excellent midwife changed my journey, when I was struggling to feed my children for the first 10 days. Everyone says that those things are easy, but there is nothing easy about it, but after managing to get support people, hopefully, really feel they can fly. That is why it is vital.’
Tim Loughton MP was also bestowed a new honorary title as the ‘Member for health visiting’.