Pregnant women in Wales urged to live healthier

Pregnant women will receive advice on how to adopt healthier lives

New mothers in Wales - where pregnant women have the highest UK rate for smoking and obesity - are to get more encouragement to lead healthier lives.

The plans are part of a draft strategy from the Welsh Assembly Government to improve maternity services.

Health professionals looking after pregnant women will give advice on eating and how to stop smoking.

But the Welsh Conservatives said the NHS, including maternity services, faced cuts.

Health services, social services and voluntary groups will play a more prominent role alongside traditional midwives.

The babies of women who smoke are 30% more likely to be born prematurely, the assembly government document says.

In Wales, 37% of mothers smoke at some stage during pregnancy or the year before and 22% continue to smoke throughout their pregnancy.

The assembly government said the plans were intended to rank Wales' maternity services among the best in the world.

Women were promised high-quality choices about care from midwife and consultant-led services, and in a range of settings, including at home, hospital or midwife-led birth centres.

'Secure start'

Health Minister Edwina Hart said services had improved thanks to investment in equipment, facilities and staff.

"The new strategy aims to build on the achievements so far, ensure consistency in services, and support across Wales," she said.

"With nearly 35,000 children born in Wales each year, and a year-on-year increase in the birth rate over the last five years, this draft strategy outlines how every child in Wales has a secure start in life, and that the mother, her partner and family begin parenting feeling confident, capable and well supported.

"The health of children is influenced by what happens throughout pregnancy and even before, so it is vitally important that efforts to ensure that the mother and child are safe and healthy need to start well before the birth."

Jean White, the chief nursing officer for Wales, said: "Pregnancy is a powerful motivator for change and a time when women and their partners, often for the first time, make positive lifestyle changes and choices in order to provide the optimal conditions to ensure the health and wellbeing of their unborn baby.

"Pregnancy therefore presents a golden opportunity to impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities."

Conservative health spokesman Nick Ramsay attacked a decision by the assembly government not to protect health spending against rises in inflation next year.

"I agree that we need a fresh strategy and a world-class maternity service but once all the health minister's rhetoric is over, all we would get under this assembly government is more cuts and more maternity unit closures," he said.

He said the Tories would appoint a deputy minister responsible for responding to public health problems such as smoking and obesity.