Ban parking charges in car parks serving NHS facilities. Only in cases where there is a serious, demonstrable abuse of parking by motorists not using the facilities will any regimes be permitted to curb such abuse, but these must never include a parking charge.
A "maternity package" of useful items for newborn babies will be provided free to charge to mothers who register for NHS antenatal care before the end of the fourth month of pregnancy.
We have a "free at the point of delivery" National Health Service and for good reason - a healthy population is a productive population, and that reaps benefits for all. That does not however extend to an area of our health that influences our ability to eat and drink and that when not maintained adequately can lead to cancer.
I'm up for this. Can we include a reference to the finnish site so people can see what's in it? Also, are there any stats on how many mothers-to-be don't register for antenatal care? 👍
Ban parking charges in car parks serving NHS facilities. Only in cases where there is a serious, demonstrable abuse of parking by motorists not using the facilities will any regimes be permitted to curb such abuse, but these must never include a parking charge.
A "maternity package" of useful items for newborn babies (similar to the one offered in Finland) will be provided free to charge to mothers who register for NHS antenatal care before the end of the fourth month of pregnancy.
We have a "free at the point of delivery" National Health Service and for good reason - a healthy population is a productive population, and that reaps benefits for all. That does not however extend to an area of our health that influences our ability to eat and drink and that when not maintained adequately can lead to cancer.
I've updated it to include a link.
As far as I can tell the antenatal care rate is effectively 100% now, but I don't know where to find exact figures on that.
http://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/incentives-expectant-mothers-access-ante-natal-care uses it as a case study, and notes that it reached 100% by 1979, from 20% when it was first introduced. (I've added that, and another good article on it I found, to the links above too.)
@philipjohn - over 9 years ago
👍
Does every mother get this then? That page says "covered by the Finnish social security scheme" which suggests to me it's some how tied to social security benefit claimants?
Every mother that registers for prenatal care, which in practice is essentially everyone. I presume "covered by" here simply means "administered by". In the 1930s and 1940s it was only available to low income families, but it was extend to everyone in 1949.
The OpenPolitics Manifesto
@tmtmtmtm - over 9 years ago
Modelled after the Finnish system. - http://www.kela.fi/web/en/maternitypackage - http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/heres-the-amazing-maternity-gift-box-all-new-parents-in-finl - http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415 - http://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/incentives-expectant-mothers-access-ante-natal-care - http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2013/06/04/A-simple-cardboard-box-helped-Finland-reduce-infant-mortality/UPI-10921370394369/
A key component of this — that isn't always recognised in articles about it — is that it's conditional on registering for pre-natal care. This is widely credited as a key reason for Finland having one of the lowest rates of infant mortality in the world (and almost half that of the UK at present).