Great item on the radio news today. The British NICE (that's the National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence, which seems to have carelessly mislaid an initial H somewhere) has recommended that pregnant women who smoke should be breath tested during pregnancy. This is to test whether they're really quitting. And the people to do this should be ... midwives!
Genius!
Happily a midwife was able convincingly to squash a NICE guy, pointing out what a great message it sends when a mother-to-be announces that she's down to 5 cigarettes a day, and the midwife says "Oh really? Just blow into this tube..."
As the midwife pointed out, the people most likely to be pissed off by this sort of behaviour (and, frankly, who wouldn't be?) are the very people who need most care and support - that is the poorest, the least healthy, and the most likely to smoke.
Sure, there's evidence that breath tests are the best evidence of smoking status. And yes, midwives are the front-line professionals in pregnancy care. But did the makers of the guidance think for one minute about what really happens, to real people, when their respected guidelines are put into practice?
Well, er, apparently not. Duh!
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