High-risk pregnancies could be missed due to pandemic, experts warn

Experts have raised fears that high-risk pregnancies may be missed due to the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a potential rise in stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

During a session of Westminster’s Health and Social Care Committee, Gill Walton, the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said there was a “fear” among pregnant women presenting themselves to maternity services during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who chairs the committee, said one of the most important elements of maternity safety was to identify higher-risk pregnancies early “so that interventions can be made to prevent stillbirths, complications, or even the death of a baby”.

Mr Hunt added the President of the Royal College of Obstetricians, Dr Edward Morris, had told him he is “worried that some higher-risk pregnancies may be being missed” because of fewer face-to-face appointments and missed scans.

Asked whether she shared that concern, Ms Walton told MPs: “I do share that concern. Some of that is related to the fear of the pregnant population and presenting to maternity services during the pandemic."

"That fear then prevents them sometimes just picking up the phone to call their midwife to say that may be concerned about not feeling well, or that they’ve got reduced foetal movements.”

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Source: The Independent, 1 May 2020