ABSTRACT
History of maternity care in the UK ................................ 13
Coordination of research: the Cochrane Library ............. 14
Involvement of professional bodies and consumer
groups in maternity care ........................................ 15
Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts .......................... 16
Consumer groups ......................................................... 17
Maternity care: the global challenge ............................. 17
Additional reading ...................................................................................... 19
Modern maternity care has evolved over more than 100 years. Many of the changes have been driven by political and
consumer pressure. Only recently has any good quality research been conducted into which aspects of care actually make a
difference to women and their babies. In the United Kingdom, we are in the enviable position of being able to receive quality
maternity care, free at the point of need. This is not so for the majority of women across the world. Despite signing up to
ambitious targets for the reduction of maternal mortality, the global community is failing to achieve reductions in mortality,
making pregnancy and childbirth a life-threatening challenge for millions of women.
