The first of a series of health evidence bulletins for Wales has challenged common practice in maternity care. The bulletin on maternal and early child health says there is 'no evidence' that bedrest helps women at risk of miscarriage and that prescribing low-dose aspirin for women at risk of high blood pressure is 'unlikely to be effective'.
But it says practices shown to be beneficial - such as allowing women to move around freely during labour - are not always adopted.
Launching the 12 bulletins, chief medical officer for Wales Ruth Hall said she hoped they would change practice.
'For the first time in a user-friendly format, health professionals have at their fingertips statements of health practices and the evidence to show what works and what does not,' she claimed.
The bulletins are the result of a three-year, pounds150,000 protocol enhancement project funded by the Wales office of research and development for health and social care.
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