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Women together: How the NCT harnesses consumer power to effect change. Elizabeth Duff NCT Senior Policy Adviser. Women together: How the NCT harnesses consumer power to effect change. NCT- who we are. Network of 320 branches covering 100% of UK Supports parents before and after birth
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Women together: How the NCT harnesses consumer power to effect change Elizabeth Duff NCT Senior Policy Adviser
Women together: How the NCT harnesses consumer power to effect change
NCT- who we are • Network of 320 branches covering 100% of UK • Supports parents before and after birth • Maintains a community network of support groups, events and resources for new parents
What we doin direct support services • Antenatal and postnatal courses for over 70,000 parents • Breastfeeding counsellor support to over 65,000 parent • We link up 1,000 - plus parents with special experiences through our register which puts parents in difficult situations in touch with each other • We answer over 85,000 queries to our helplines each year
Influencing the agenda from the Grass Roots Up 230 NCT Reps • Working locally on MSLCs • Working regionally and nationally on NICE Guidelines, NMC committees, Maternity Care Working Party, RCM Campaign for Normal Birth, RCOG Consumers Forum etc 1000 Activists • Saved maternity units threatened by local reconfiguration • Won judgments against formula company advertisements • Lobbied for introduction of the right to breastfeed in public 57 NCT ReNs • Evidence base underpinning all NCT work
Who do we want to influence? • Legislators • Policy makers • Health practitioners Also … • Media • Voluntary sector partners • The public
Department of Health press release 2 March 2011 ‘Changing the way we pay the NHS’ Health Secretary Andrew Lansley speaks at the Nuffield Health Trust Annual Summit. • “We have a system in the NHS misleadingly called ‘Payment by Results’. The current system has perverse incentives. … encouraging a reactive approach that increases the chances of last minute interventions.” • “Take maternity services - it’s in the best financial interests of the hospital to provide care on a purely reactive basis, dealing with problems as they arise rather than preventing them from happening in the first place. The hospital benefits. The mother does not. • “Whether at home, in a midwife-led unit or in an obstetric unit, mothers-to-be should be supported by an integrated service .. focused on the outcomes – a healthy baby, a healthy mother and a good birth experience. The tariff should support the quality and service needed, not distort it”.
Working together • NCT is a partner in developing services at local, regional and national levels • NCT believes midwives are essential to women’s positive experience of birth and transition to parenthood • All women need a midwife some need a doctor too
Thank you for inviting me and thank you for listening! Elizabeth Duff e_duff@nct.org.uk