title: How good are the maternity services for 'drug misusers' in England and Wales? A national survey.
abstract: To assess the state of maternity services for pregnant drug misusers, a postal questionnaire-based survey was carried out in England and Wales in 2005. A total of 222 questionnaires were sent with a response rate of 80.63%, reporting a total of 5,324 births to drug-misusers. Data were collated and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2003. Despite improvement in the services provided to the pregnant drug-misusers, there is wide regional variation. Hepatitis-C screening is particularly under-offered. Pre-birth meetings appear to be the way forward to optimise overall outcome. Maternity-unit staff need appropriate training for providing sufficient knowledge of drug use and its consequences for the pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gandhi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Llewellyn
mesh_terms: D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013222:State Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014852:Wales