Listen with Mother

The Maternity Services Group (MSG) is an informal coalition of organizations ranging from small special interest groups to those with a broad maternity remit including consumers and professionals, but all with a keen interest in increasing effective involvement of users in the development of maternity care. With help from the Changing Childbirth Implementation Team, the MSG held a series of national conferences in November 1994 and July 1995 with the title "Listen with Mother". They were prompted by approaches to MSG members for help in finding out what women want from maternity services. The conferences were methodological in content and aimed at assisting anyone faced with the tack of obtaining the views of users or involving them in planning or monitoring services. This book contains over 20 contributions from the conferences, covering issues of consultation generally, an introduction to specific methodologies and experiences of involving particular client groups. The proceedings begin with a paper by Kate Jackson, Director of the CCIT and conclude with a round-up by Karlene Davis.