Removing antenatal care from GPs is yet another blow to continuity of care

As usual, Salisbury makes some excellent observations. As a GP working in the same region, I too have reacted with dismay to this (understandable) change in policy, which takes antenatal care away from GPs.1It bears repeating that this is yet another blow to continuity of care, the value of which is hard to measure and easy to underestimate.The relationship built up with a GP during what is more often than not a routine antenatal period can be vital. Health problems such as postnatal depression may not present until long after the midwives have discharged the patient, and a trusting relationship with a GP, developed during the antenatal period, might be the difference between early presentation and identification of a problem or not.No doubt, as in many other areas where continuity with our patients has been eroded, new systems, pathways, and protocols (and staff) will spring up to plug this loss….
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