Your baby is now officially an embryo and is about the size of a poppy seed.
Please visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/4-weeks-pregnant/ for more information.
Better Births
Better Births was published in February 2016, it sets out a Five Year Forward vision for NHS maternity services in England.
Vision
Our vision for maternity services across England is for them to become safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family friendly; where every woman has access to information to enable her to make decisions about her care; and where she and her baby can access support that is centred around their individual needs and circumstances.
And for all staff to be supported to deliver care which is women centred, working in high performing teams, in organisations which are well led and in cultures which promote innovation, continuous learning, and break down organisational and professional boundaries.
Key actions focus on:
- Personalised care, centred on the woman, her baby and family, based around their needs and their decisions, where they have genuine choice, informed by unbiased information.
- Continuity of carer, to ensure safe care based on a relationship of mutual trust and respect in line with the woman's decisions.
- Safer care, with professionals working together across boundaries to ensure rapid referral, and access to the right care in the right place; leadership for safety culture within and across organisations; and investigation, honesty and learning when things go wrong.
- Better postnatal and perinatal mental health care, to address the historic underfunding and provision in these two vital areas, which can have significant impact on life chances and wellbeing of the woman, baby and family.
- Multi-professional working, breaking down barriers between midwives, obstetricians and other professionals to deliver safe and personalised care for women and babies.
- Working across boundaries, to provide and commission maternity services to support personalisation, safety and choice, with access to specialist care whenever needed.
- A payment system that fairly and adequately compensates providers for delivering high quality care to all women efficiently, while supporting commissioners to commission for personalisation, safety and choice.
