Perinatal care in primary care for cardiovascular risk reduction.

Abstract

General Practitioners (GPs) and multidisciplinary members of the primary care team in the UK have, since the earliest days of the NHS, played a key role in the care of women throughout their perinatal journey, particularly postnatally. With cardiometabolic complications of pregnancy becoming increasingly common, and bringing an associated increased lifetime risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes, GPs and the wider primary care team play a crucial role in risk reduction and management. Managing healthcare effectively to reduce adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes and health inequalities requires a system-wide change in approach where women's pre-conception to postnatal health is optimised. GPs' role in postnatal care, and other opportunistic moments in primary care for health promotion and risk management, is a key part of the solution.