I'm grateful for the efforts being made nationally to strongly encourage/support Trusts to reopen access for partners. The letter to Trusts, see below - well worth a read - surely supports local activity aimed at scrutinising the basis for local arrangements #butnotmaternity

Here's the letter: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/09/letter-to-directors-of-nursing-and-heads-of-midwifery-19-september-2020.pdf

Having this letter in the open surely raises the bar in terms of what service users should feel entitled to call for locally. Not least, complete transparency in terms of the documented rationale for a restricted service - for those who wish to read it!

I'd love to hear of any areas in which such openness has been a hallmark of operations during these difficult times. Does anyone have any local examples of any good shared 'this is why we can't/ this is what we need before we can' type documents, I wonder?

This @AIMS_online doc is also relevant. Come volunteer for AIMS if you want us to help us do more campaigning around this sort of thing. My dm box is open! https://www.aims.org.uk/assets/media/444/aimscomments2020-04-11.pdf