Antenatal care in Belfast

A questionnaire study of mothers' views of the antenatal care provided in Belfast showed general satisfaction. Retrospective examination of their charts however showed in some cases that insufficient attention was paid to the medical and obstetric history in the selection of type of care made by the women and their doctors. Some women with high risk factors were booked for shared care and some patients at low risk were booked for total hospital care. The reasons for this are unclear. The mothers felt that continuity of care and communication at the health centre were better than at the hospital. Analysis of the number of hospital attendances showed that shared care patients appeared to be making an excessive number of visits to hospital. Many total hospital care patients also admitted that they were attending their general practitioners. There appeared to be marked duplication of effort as a result of poor communication between patient, general practitioner and hospital. Alternative ideas for care are suggested — a more integrated system for sharing antenatal care, and the development of general practitioner units within the specialist obstetric hospital.