Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2009
Introduction
Until April 2003 there were two separate bodies collecting information and making enquiries into maternal and perinatal deaths in the UK. The Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) produced triennial reports entitled “Why Mothers Die” from 1952 up to and including the report for 1997/9. The Confidential Enquiries into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (CESDI) produced annual reports in addition to focused reports (e.g. Project 27/28).
These two bodies are now combined into the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH). This is a self-governing body managed by its own board with members nominated by eight Royal Colleges. The remit of CEMACH includes the improvement of maternal and child health as well as mortality reviews. To this end, CEMACH has not only continued the Why Mothers Die report and the Stillbirth Neonatal and Postnatal Mortality report but also undertakes focused enquiries e.g. The Diabetes Study.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) currently takes overall responsibility for the publishing of these reports, however this role will be short lived and is soon to be handed over to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).
All maternal deaths should be reported to CEMACH Regional Manager, who then initiates an enquiry by sending a standard form to all professionals concerned with the care of the woman. The Trust must hold an internal investigation to ascertain what happened, and the Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trust, coroner, and Local Supervising Authority Midwifery Officer (LSAMO) should also be informed.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.