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A Framework for maternity services in Scotland

Glossary

Accredited Certified as being of a prescribed quality.

Advocate A person who acts for, or defends the rights of, another person. Usually the named midwife becomes the woman's advocate, being responsible for meeting her needs. Advocacy is central to good care and professional practice.

Amniocentesis A test carried out during or after 15 weeks of pregnancy for fetal abnormality. The test involves the removal of a small amount of fluid from the amniotic sac by aspiration through the abdominal wall, for diagnostic purposes.

Antenatal Care Care of women during pregnancy by professionals in order to detect, predict, prevent and manage problems with women or their unborn babies. Care also includes education, advice and support.

Audit The measuring and evaluation of care against agreed standards with a view to improving practice and care delivery.

Bio-Physical Assessment The use of ultrasound scanning to assess fetal well-being.

Birth Plan A woman's written record of her preferences for her care during pregnancy, labour and childbirth.

Caesarean Section An operation where the baby is delivered through an incision through the abdominal and uterine walls.

Cardiotocograph A test of fetal well-being and uterine contractions. A combination of electro-cardiography and tocography. The fetal heart rate is obtained by a microphone placed on the woman's abdomen or by an electrode attached to the fetal scalp during labour. At the same time contractions of the uterus are measured by a tocograph placed on the woman's abdomen. Both are recorded on a monitoring device.

Caseload/Caseload Midwifery A caseload is a specified number of women for whom a midwife is responsible, therefore, caseload midwifery is a system in which midwives take responsibility in this way. The number of women specified in a caseload varies.

Chorionic Villus Sampling A procedure whereby a small amount of tissue is taken from the placenta (a small biopsy of the villi from the chorion frondosum) with a needle under visualisation of ultrasound scanning. This can be carried out within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Community Maternity Unit A maternity unit, midwife managed, occasionally with GP involvement, which may be a stand-alone unit or adjacent to a non-obstetric hospital or adjacent to a maternity unit.

Conception The act of becoming pregnant.

Congenital Abnormalities An anomaly present at birth.

Continuity of Care This term is used to describe a situation where all the professionals involved in delivery of care share common ways of working and a common philosophy. The aim being to reduce conflicting advice experienced by women, and the same philosophy of care is experienced by the woman throughout the period of her care.

Continuity of Carer The same professional providing care throughout a woman's contact with the maternity services. It can also be used to describe the same caregiver throughout a specific episode of care, such as during labour and childbirth.

CRAG Clinical Resource and Audit Group which promotes clinical audit and advice on the efficient and effective use of clinical resources.

Demography The study of statistics on births, deaths and diseases.

Deprivation Category The Carstairs and Morris index is composed of 4 indicators judged to represent material disadvantage in the population. These are: overcrowding, male unemployment, social class 4 or 5 and no car.

Diagnostic Services Services used to recognise the distinctive signs and symptoms of a disease or condition.

Domino Scheme (Domicilliary In and Out): Care is provided by midwives in the community. They provide the majority of care during pregnancy, care for the woman in the maternity unit during labour and childbirth; the woman usually goes home 6 hours after her baby is born and the midwives continue to provide care at home in the early postnatal period.

Education The learning process prior to the professional's initial registration or first degree.

European Community Working Time Directive The Working Time Directive provides for minimum daily and weekly rest periods, annual paid holidays, a limit on the working week of 48 hours and restrictions on night work. It excludes from its scope transport, work at sea and doctors in training.

Fetal Of the fetus.

Fetus The unborn baby, usually referring to development from the seventh week of pregnancy until birth.

Guidelines Systematically developed statements which assist in decision-making about appropriate health care for specific clinical conditions.

Holistic Treatment of the whole person rather than a symptom or an illness.

Home Birth This is usually a planned event where the woman decides to give birth at home, with care provided by the midwife. It is normal for 2 midwives to be present for the birth. Occasionally the GP is involved in the care and present at the birth.

Independent Midwife A midwife who is self-employed, contracting directly with an individual woman or with an NHS Trust.

Innocenti Declaration A declaration concerning the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding which was produced and adopted by the participants at the WHO/UNICEF policy-makers' meeting on 'Breastfeeding in the 1990's', a global initiative held in Italy in 1990. Britain is a signatory.

Integrated Care Pathways A coherent approach to providing health promotion, detection and treatment for a specific illness.

Integrated Service A multi-disciplinary, multi-professional approach to service provision.

In-utero In the uterus/womb, unborn.

Lead Professional The professional who will give a substantial part of the care personally and who is responsible for ensuring that the woman has access to care from other professionals as appropriate.

Local Health Care Co-operatives (LHCC) These co-operatives are GP-led and were set up to address the health needs of local communities through a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency forum.

Maternity Services Liaison Committee A committee set up within a NHS Board area which provides a forum for all the professions involved in the provision of maternity care with representatives of the women who use the services to discuss issues relevant to the provision and development of maternity services in the area.

Maternity Unit A building or group of buildings in which maternity care is provided. It can be located within, or adjacent to, a general hospital, or away from the general hospital.

Named Midwife A named, qualified midwife who will be responsible for women's midwifery care.

Neonatal Period The first 28 days of a baby's life

Obstetric The branch of medicine and surgery that deals with pregnancy and childbirth.

Philosophy A system of principles concerning a specific subject area.

Physiological In accordance with the natural functions of the body.

Postnatal After the birth.

Postnatal Period A period not less than 10 days or more than 28 days after the end of labour, during which time the attendance on the mother and baby by a midwife is mandatory.

Premature Baby Born before the due date (less than 37 weeks gestation).

Primary Health Care Primary Health Care is health care at the first point of contact with the Health Service, addressing physical, social and psychological problems, but also providing continuity of care. The traditional Primary Health Care Team of General Practitioners working with nursing, administrative and other support colleagues has largely been expanded to include colleagues from other agencies and disciplines relevant to the delivery of care appropriate to the person's needs.

Principles A code of direction.

Professional In the context of this Framework, Professional usually refers to those who have been specially trained in health care such as the midwife, the GP, the obstetrician, the anaesthetist, the paediatrician/neonatologist and the health visitor.

Protocol An adaptation of a clinical guideline or a written statement to meet local conditions and constraints, which has legal connotations.

Reproductive Health Health of the organs involved in the process of pregnancy and childbirth.

Resuscitation The revival of someone who is in cardiac or respiratory failure or shock.

Screening Mass examination of the population to detect specific illnesses.

Shared Care An agreed arrangement between a GP and an obstetrician, a GP and a midwife or an obstetrician and a midwife over care for a pregnant woman.

Social Inclusion Ensuring that everyone regardless of sex, wealth, race, religion, geographical position or age has the opportunity to live full and active lives free from injustice, discrimination and poverty.

Stillbirth A baby born dead after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy. Stillbirths must be registered and the cause of death established before a certificate of stillbirth can be issued and a burial take place.

Strategy A plan or a policy to achieve something.

Supervisor of Midwives A statutory function whereby a midwife who has completed the appropriate training is appointed to the role of supervisor of midwives. The role encompasses the provision of support and guidance for midwives, protection of the public, contribution to the regulation of the practice of midwives and promotion of high quality care. Each midwife has a named supervisor of midwives.

Team Midwifery Where a small team of midwives share responsibility for care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.

Telemedicine Refers to any application of information and communications technology which removes or mitigates the effect of distance in health care.

Ultrasound Scan An image created by the use of sound waves above the audible range of the human ear. It is useful in the confirmation of pregnancy, the determination of fetal size and wellbeing.

Woman Centred The needs of the individual woman provide the focus for the planning, organising and delivery of maternity services.

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