Calls to prevent the number of deaths which occur as a result of pregnancy

Health chiefs in Scotland are attempting to raise awareness of issues affecting pregnant women and new mothers in a bid to improve care for the women in question.

With 10 in every 100,000 pregnancies in the UK and Ireland resulting in the death of the mother, senior medical professionals have called for improvements in medical care for pregnant women and new mums.

Having created a list of recommendations, those involved hope to raise awareness of the issue and highlight the fact that 74% of mothers who died as a result of pregnancy had a history of medical or mental health issues.

Determined to highlight the importance of the issues, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Dr. Frank Dunn, said: "There is a real opportunity there to capture these patients and to advise them during pre-pregnancy counselling and to let them know about the importance of some medication."

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Dr. Dunn went on to say: "There is understandably a fear among both the patients and the health professionals that they may not be able to give this medication. They may not, for example, be able to give a flu vaccination during pregnancy, which would actually save about half of the deaths due to influenza."

Commenting on the statistics in the field, Dr. Catherine Calderwood said: "While maternal deaths are very rare, the effects it has on a family are tragic. It is encouraging to see that the number of cases is continuing to decrease. However, we must continue to drive improvements to reduce the rate even further."

According to a report published in December entitled Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care, one third of deaths can be attributed to complications such as pre-eclampsia while the remaining two thirds were said to be a result of suicide or flu.

Recommendations put forward include but are not limited to the implementation of better strategies for the prevention of ill health, the implementation of a 'red flag' system for pregnant and postpartum women complaining of ill health and the establishment of improved education systems for women suffering from medical or mental health issues who plan to become pregnant.

Dr. Calderwood asserts that collaboration across health services is of the utmost importance when improving care and outcomes for pregnant women.