The maternity and newborn programme

The key issues for the maternity and newborn programme are:

• maternal obesity
• maternal age (both teenagers and older mothers)
• smoking during pregnancy
• breastfeeding
• low birth weight
• maternal mental health
• screening for infectious diseases

Continuing the implementation of choice about maternity care

Commissioners will seek assurance that there is:

Evidence of access to all types of intrapartum care:

• homebirth
• midwife led environments (freestanding or alongside units)
• obstetric led environments

• individual and group sessions, in and out of hours availability
• promotion of normal birth through reduced caesarean section rates

Implement Payment by Results guidance relating to maternity service pathway bundles

Providers will need to be able to estimate the proportions of women falling into each of the case mix categories and commissioners will compare this against national benchmarks and local data on needs and demographics. Commissioners will require providers to engage with the process of calculating local case mix proportions using the national templates.