BMJ 1995;310:1066 (22 April)

Letters

Assessing the consequences of changing childbirth

General practitioners collect valuable data

EDITOR,--James Owen Drife's editorial on assessing the consequences of changing childbirth contains several valid points.1 The historical basis of the collection of data by hospital units may well have resulted in high quality clinical audit. Regrettably, such data collection has invariably missed a major source of clinical data--namely, the data recorded by the general practitioner throughout the woman's antenatal and postnatal care. General practitioners have rarely been encouraged to share such data with other carers in the NHS. Maternity care is but one example of this. Diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis are three major diseases in which most care is given in the primary care sector and yet decisions and national comparative analyses are based mainly on hospital records.

Changing Childbirth has highlighted the role of the primary care team in providing continuity of care.2 It also recommends that mechanisms should be developed to ensure . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Assessing the consequences of changing childbirth
James Owen Drife
BMJ 1995 310: 144. [Extract] [Full Text]

Access all current jobs at BMJ Group
Whats new online at Student BMJ
Listen to the latest BMJ Interview