Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care: Lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2017-19 (MBRRACE-UK, November 2021)

Summary

This report, the eighth MBRRACE-UK annual report of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity, includes surveillance data on women who died during or up to one year after pregnancy between 2017 and 2019 in the UK. In addition, it also includes Confidential Enquiries into the care of women who died between 2017 and 2019 in the UK and Ireland from mental health-related causes, venous thromboembolism, homicide and malignancy. The report also includes a Morbidity Confidential Enquiry into the care of women who gave birth aged over 45 years.

This report can be read as a single document; each chapter is also designed to be read as a standalone report as, although the whole report is relevant to maternity staff, service providers and policy-makers, there are specific clinicians and service providers for whom only single chapters are pertinent. There are seven different chapters which may be read independently, the topics covered are:

1. Surveillance of maternal deaths

2. Older maternal age (morbidity enquiry)

3. Mental health and multiple adversity

4. Malignancy

5. Venous thromboembolism.

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