Now on babies; I must admit to feeling a bit disconcerted about two aspects of NHS maternity care.
The first was how fragmented it is. Aki and I have been to four different places as part of our maternity care: King's for our first scan, Beckenham Beacon Hospital for our second scan and first midwife appointment, the local surgery for ongoing midwife care and the Princess Royal Hospital in Orpington which is where Aki will eventually give birth. It does not feel like a consistent, single maternity care system. We move from stop to stop on a conveyor belt schedule. We have a form with the dates and locations.
The other was the volume of promotions and advertising material handed out through the NHS; this brand of absorbent nappies, that cool chic baby attire, those toys 'r the best, what you need for your growing baby's environment. They were all there. I'd heard of infilitration of advertising material into NHS waiting rooms but I was surprised at how much there was, particularly the Bounty pack full of brands "to try out". Nearly every educational booklet was produced by some corporation trying to seed purchasing ideas.
Read this: Building Brand Equity via Health Professionals. The most telling line for me is "Product placement into the hospital and community environment".
There is no escape. They will soon beam ads into the womb.