Maternity

It is now widely accepted that the foundations for virtually every aspect of human development – physical, intellectual, and emotional – are laid down in pregnancy and early childhood. The physical and mental wellbeing of the mother, foetal exposures in the womb, and early childhood experience have lifelong impacts on many aspects of health and wellbeing – from obesity, heart disease, and mental health, to educational achievement and economic status. There are around 16,000 babies born in Kent each year.

See also our pages on children and young people and sexual health.

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Our resources

Data and reports

Additional information can be found in our Health and Social Care Maps self-serve tool. We are constantly developing this resource in response to your feedback.

We have produced an analysis of the quality of maternity services (PDF, 2.6 MB). The Maternity Services Review (PDF, 1.7 MB) provides a detailed analysis of the relationship between Public Health and maternity services with respect to the delivery of the antenatal and postnatal elements of the Health Child Programme.

We have also produced the following needs assessments:

External resources

A number of organisations produce statistics relating to maternal and child health, both at national and local levels.

The views and experiences of local residents regarding Maternity services is captured in reports available from the Healthwatch Kent website.
The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID) Child Health Profiles provide snapshot overviews of child health for local areas, as well as pregnancy and birth profiles.
NHS Digital publishes a range of statistics relating to maternal and infant health. They also publish reports on particular topics:
The ONS also provides a range of statistics relating to maternity and infant health, including: