Mothers needlessly separated from babies under UK hospital Covid rules

Mothers are being needlessly separated from their babies under strict hospital restrictions introduced to stop the spread of COVID-19, doctors and charities have warned.

The measures preventing UK parents from staying with their babies when one or both require hospital treatment are causing trauma and increasing the risk of physical and mental health problems, it is claimed.

Some parents of sick babies are also being barred from seeing their child in neonatal units, which is causing distress and preventing bonding.

Campaigners have written to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, to raise their concerns. They want hospitals to review these policies urgently and have called for a working group to draw up national standards to meet families’ needs during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 November 2020