A postal survey of the postnatal care received by 250 mothers during the three months after delivery in the North Herts Maternity Unit achieved a response rate of 74.6%. More than 80% of mothers responding felt that they had received adequate help from the hospital staff, community midwife and health visitor but only 50% felt that they had received adequate help from their general practitioner. There seemed to be a need for some relaxation of the policy of length of hospital stay, an increase in the level of postnatal instruction and improvement in the interaction between general practitioner and mothers.
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