§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is fully satisfied with measures recommended by his Department to ensure the best possible health of a woman who is pregnant; and whether those measures ensure that perinatal mortality and morbidity figures are satisfactory.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe quality of antenatal care is a vital factor in ensuring the health of the mother and her unborn child. I welcome therefore the first report of the Maternity Services Advisory Committee, recently published, which reaffirmed the importance of antenatal care and provided authoritative guidelines to good practice. I am sure that this report will be a valuable aid to health authorities and the professions in their efforts to improve still further their maternity and neonatal care services. For the past two years perinatal mortality has been falling at the fastest rate ever recorded—from 14.7 per thousand births in England and Wales in 1979, to 11.8 in 1981—an achievement reflecting great credit on all concerned.