Covid fears may be keeping expectant mothers from attending needed hospital check ups

Doctors fear a rise in stillbirths and babies with impaired growth because pregnant women were too scared to seek help during the pandemic.

At a Royal Society of Medicine webinar on pregnancy and Covid, medics expressed concern that women in need of urgent attention had kept away from maternity services, for fear of catching the infection.

In other cases, those with worrying symptoms which could mean their baby was at risk may have stayed away because they feared putting pressure on services, doctors said.

Dr Maggie Blott, head of obstetrics at the Royal Free London Foundation trust, said: “A lot of the work that we do is is prevention, and a lot of women that we see, turn up for hospital as an emergency - have concerns around abdominal pain, reduced foetal movements, all sorts of things.”

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Source: The Telegraph, 18 June 2020