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Today we are in Westminster where, for the first time, MPs are going to debate egg donation & adverts targeting young women for their eggs. With huge thanks to Jim Shannon MP for hosting this important debate. You can watch it live here at 1:50pm: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/c6…

I'm looking forward to attending this event: - it's an open-access event - full of people who engage well - where I can learn more about the maternity services - and connect with people who are part of the drive to #ImproveMaternityServicesTogether. Thanks Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Bringing healthcare services closer to you, eh? There's so much work to be done under this heading, in in maternity and beyond. What's going on here? #ImprovingMaternityServicesTogether aims.org.uk Andrew Gwynne MP tamesidemvp Angela Rayner Healthwatch Tameside GMEC SCN

Wes Streeting One more reason to keep you awake at night.

Disappointing to see closure of (presumably) community service making pregnant women travel further for appointments. Some can’t afford fares; some cannot take more time off work or caring for family. Inequality gap widened again. Not much to ‘elevate & celebate’ [sic] here.

Continuity of care: not just good for relationships with GPs & midwives, it matters within specialist teams & gets better surgical outcomes. Who knew?! RoyalCollegeObsGyn Royal College of Psychiatrists Royal College of General Practitioners The Royal College of Surgeons of England Margaret McCartney Jane Sandall David Oliver (also on Blue Sky) Dr Rachel Clarke jamanetwork.com/journals/jamas…

"Down by the sea, wouldn't it be lovely ..." Wish I was there! But I'm making do with a view of the Peak District - not too shabby :-) I don't think I have a UK absolute favourite, but I do like a nice prom .... #NationalSeasideDay

Choosing Wisely Canada works to question 'health' treatment that seems to happens for no better reason than 'that's the way we do things around here'. But it could do harm. Here is the list of obs & gynae 'tests and treatments to question' choosingwiselycanada.org/recommendation… aims.org.uk

It's so important that maternity is key element of #NeighbourhoodNHS. We've tried tight vertical integration, with acute hospital base in charge. It hasn't worked. Evidence-based community care suffers & pressure on acute services reduces quality there too. Change needed.

Key elements of 10 Year Plan for NHS in England are excellent news for maternity policy direction. We just need to make sure that maternity isn't left out of the planning & implementation effort (albeit perhaps not firmed up as national priority until current review ends).

Great to see new framework: it offers good opportunity to align maternity with rest of NHS. Silo working in maternity causes problems eg neighbourhood care is at risk of obliteration. Nd to turn this around AND get acute service right Wes Streeting Alison Wright 💙 Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Wonderful focus on mothers in all this - thank you and best wishes with the climb and the project. I don't know about your local area, but want to ask: do you already have well-trained midwifery staff in place/ in the pipeline? Thanks.

My blog: Harnessing the means of prediction: reflections on the new NHS ten year plan linkedin.com/pulse/harnessi…

In maternity & elsewhere, emphasis on community options is right. But we’ve heard this for 30+ years now & every time budgets tighten, it’s the local service that’s lost because it doesn’t hit the headlines in the same way. Community services need long-term, sustained investment.

We all need to get around, but in the UK many disabled people like us are blocked from travelling because of large gaps and steps between the train and the platform. Level boarding solves that issue, so stations are more accessible to everyone - accessibility should be standard.

Right, I *think* I've now digested the 168-page tome that is the 10 Year Health Plan. I have a correspondingly large no of thoughts on it. Because no-one wants to read a 50-post thread, I'm going to post on a few diff themes over the coming days. Let's start with: format.

Has the effectiveness of the NHS chaperone policy been evaluated? Is it another example of a failed add-on? And why's it not used in maternity, where complaints of disrespect and obstetric violence persist? Birthrights Wes Streeting RoyalCollegeObsGyn Royal College of Midwives 💙 aims.org.uk

The summer is here and a twitter break calls :-)

We are releasing a UK first: a Family Led Maternity Review. Covering experiences from Swansea Bay NHS Written by families. Over 70 surveys completed, over 25 personal stories. Data assessed from Welsh bodies. Recs from patients #btaw Foreword by Donna Ockenden FRSA, Hon DLitt Hon DSci

I'm far less cautious about Penny Dash's latest report than Patients Association. Although a little rough in places, I was rather delighted that she highlighted many themes that aims.org.uk has been talking about at the national level over the last 5 years or so (at least) 👏👏👏