Mothers-to-be will get better care during labour and more choice about how they give birth in a multi-million pound package of help for maternity services to be unveiled by health secretary Alan Milburn.
Grim tales of women going into labour in overstretched, understaffed and dirty maternity wards have prompted ministers to act. They will promise more midwives to ensure one-to-one care during birth, "home from home" style wards in hospitals and more opportunities for a home birth for those who want it.
Milburn believes thousands of infants' lives courld be saved over the next decade by providing the best available care from conception onwards.
This week will signal a shift into pre-election mode, as Labour tries to put the welfare of children centre stage. The moves come as the National Family and Parenting Institute calls for the creation of a Ministry for the Family to help deal with the remaining "gaps, inconsistencies and inadequate help and provision" for parents.
Milburn's speech on Wednesday will be backed up by trade secretary Stephen Byers, who will launch a streamlining of maternity pay and leave, making it easier for small firms to administer. New screening services for expectatnt mothers will be launched tomorrow by junior health minister Yvette Cooper, herself pregnant. "What we are trying to ensure is that giving birth is as pleasant and as fulfilling an experience as it can be," said one source close to Milburn.
"It's important that women are offered more privacy, more support and that there isn't this medicalisation of pregnancy and childbirth. It's not an illness to have a baby."
Earlier this year, MPs warned that staff shortages meant women could not always have a midwife with them throughout labour, even though this reduced the risk of difficult births and of medical intervention. Yesterday the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists suggested a shortage of junior doctors threatened mothers' and babies' safety.
One key aim is to meet the government's target of reducing infant mortality. Two-thirds of deaths in the first year are linked to low birthweight and physical immaturity: better care in pregnancy, including advice about diet and smoking, could reduce these numbers.
Milburn will tell the Royal College of Midwives' annual conference in Torbay that maternity wards across Britain must match the standards of the best, He is expected to make it clear that women should not have to fight reluctant doctors to be allowed a home birth if it would be safe for them.
Help will be focused on low-income mothers, who are at higher risk of postnatal depression, while babies born to the poorest fathers weigh on averagle 130g less than those born to the richest.
