Reclaiming postnatal care

Julie Wray, Senior Lecturer, Joint Editor The Practising Midwife Journal, University of Salford, UK Reclaiming Postnatal Care Giving birth and the aftercare within the hospital or home setting is one of the most emotive areas of healthcare and one that midwives strive to ensure adheres to the patients requests as much as is possible. However growing evidence shows that for too long postnatal care has been a marginalised topic within research and has become the Cinderella of the childbirth continuum. In fact many women feel abandoned postnatal and are ‘left to get on with it’ alone. Using data from Julie’s most recent study, an ethnography of women’s experiences of care and recovery after birth, which included periods of observations on two postnatal wards in the North West of England and a series of three in-depth interviews of 17 women after birth; once at 2/3 weeks after birth, then again at 3 months and finally at 6/7 months – a lively debate will unfold. Julie will be arguing that midwifery needs to reclaim postnatal care for the benefit of women’s health and wellbeing