MPs Ida Lindtveit Røse, Jorunn Gleditsch Lossius and Joel Ystebø have tabled a proposal to strengthen maternity and postnatal care. The proposers argue that postnatal care has lower satisfaction rates than antenatal care, that there is a shortage of midwives, and that women do not receive adequate follow-up after birth. They call on the government to ensure better staffing, establish mother-infant units for postnatal depression, provide physiotherapy follow-up for all women, grant sick leave rights for caesarean sections equal to other abdominal surgery, and create additional training places for midwives.
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These are the proposals in the document, not decisions. See the votes for the outcome.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that one-to-one support for women during active labour becomes a right for all birthing women, and to provide staffing levels in maternity services that make this possible.
The Storting calls on the government to strengthen public maternity and postnatal care by developing an action plan based on the experiences of women who have used antenatal, birth, and postnatal services. The plan should aim to build public confidence in the public maternity and postnatal offer.
The Storting calls on the government to strengthen prevention of and follow-up for postnatal depression, including establishing additional mother-infant units, and to report back to the Storting in an appropriate manner.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that all women who have given birth are offered at least one hour with a physiotherapist to assess pelvic and abdominal muscles or address other physical challenges after pregnancy and birth.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that caesarean sections receive the same sick leave entitlements as other abdominal surgery, so that women undergoing a caesarean section are automatically granted six weeks' sick leave regardless of parental benefit eligibility.
The Storting calls on the government to establish a national scheme for automatic recall of mothers for a six-week check with their GP or midwife, and to provide clearer guidelines on what such a check should and may include.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that expertise in maternity and postnatal care is developed, with particular emphasis on preventing childbirth injuries, strengthening knowledge of women's health, and developing best practice, by building on and reinforcing existing specialist networks and services, such as Bekkensenteret at Ahus.
The Storting calls on the government to create additional training places for midwives, training posts, and decentralised midwifery education programmes.
The Storting calls on the government to consider expanding midwives' rights to refer to specialist health services, granting sick leave entitlements for pregnancy-related complaints, and prescribing rights for pregnancy-related medications.
The Storting calls on the government to investigate introducing pathway financing for antenatal, birth, and postnatal care to ensure better continuity and integrated services.
The Storting calls on the government to implement a national expansion plan for midwifery services to ensure good follow-up of pregnant women and safe maternity and postnatal care across the country.