Tuesday 20 May 2003

MS LESLEY SPIRES, MS MAGGIE ELLIOT, MS DIANE JONES AND MS MY DIEP

  Q200  Sandra Gidley: SANDS is not really for disability, is it?

  Mrs Elliott: No it is for stillbirths and neo-natal deaths.

  Ms Spires: Can I bring in an example where we did use that service, I cannot remember the name of the body that supported this particular mother who had learning difficulties, but there was a lot of coordination between the midwife caring for her and the organisation that was supporting her and there was a lot of two-way conversations—

  Julia Drown: That bell means we have to go and vote. Just wait for the bells to finish. Could you just drop us a note of a good example of that. It is the last question. We just want to know if you do think voluntary and community groups are of particular help to people with disabilities and are properly recognised by maternity?

  Q201  Sandra Gidley: And how things could be improved in the future?

  Ms Spires: I think if you know about the organisations and you have information beforehand the organisation can be of assistance and it works very well. In this case they were able to work together to enable the woman to stay in hospital and to assess whether she could cope with her baby. It gave time to arrange somewhere for her to go. If we had not known about this organisation or that they supported her this would not have happened. Perhaps we need the information about which organisations to access so that midwives can get in touch with them.

  Julia Drown: That is the issue about getting in touch. Can I thank you all for coming. Sorry we have to leave you in a hurry, we all have to run and vote. I hope our report will help raise the very, very important issues that you are working on.