14 November 2007
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Acknowledge that Child Bed Fever is not a disease of the past, that it still kills mothers unnecessarily and to take positive action now to stop it."
Details of Petition:
"Child Bed Fever (also called Puerperal Sepsis or Puerperal Fever) is a treatable illness that kills mothers. Historically, it was the leading cause of maternal death in the UK but, due in part to penicillin, cases declined significantly; the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health reported no attributable deaths between 1982 & 1984. Since then, deaths have been on the increase and Child Bed Fever now accounts for 12% of direct causes of maternal death. In its triennial reports ‘Why Mothers Die’, CEMACH consistently gives the same advice to health carers, stressing the urgency of treatment and that "Education of doctors, midwives and medical students about the risk factors, symptoms, signs, investigation and treatment of sepsis and the recognition of critical illness is recommended". This advice appears to be going unnoticed and as a consequence the disease is not consigned to history as it should be. Positive action must be taken urgently before more mothers die needlessly."
Read the Government’s response
Maternal deaths in the UK are extremely rare. Each is a tragedy, which is why the Government takes any maternal deaths seriously and funds the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD). Each avoidable maternal death is one too many. In the last published report of the CEMD for 2000-02, only five of the 13 women who died from infection, out of more than the 2million who delivered safely, died from what is known as puerperal fever (sometimes also known as child bed fever) after a normal delivery. The CEMD’s next report, Saving Mothers’ Lives, due to be published on December 4, will update healthcare professionals on clinical guidelines for the management of serious illnesses affecting pregnant or recently delivered mothers. The recommendations of the report are circulated to all maternity professionals and, in future, their implementation will be audited by the Healthcare Commission. Since the last report was published, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has also published clinical guidelines for both birth and post-natal care.