NHS trusts are failing to focus enough attention on maternity and safety issues, a report has found.

The investigation into maternity services in England was commissioned by the King's Fund health charity.

The authors said that giving birth is "likely to be safe for the overwhelming majority of women" but said some births were "less safe than they could and should be".

The report found that although death rates have fallen for babies and remained stable for mothers, there were areas where improvements could be made.

It said not enough attention is being given by NHS trusts to maternity and safety issues, with some evidence suggesting this is because they are not pushed to hit Government targets in this area.

Often, according to the study, there are inadequate numbers of staff with the right skills on duty.

Most units do not have enough midwives to offer one-to-one care and there is a lack of team-working and even rivalry between midwives and obstetricians, the study said.

The inquiry heard evidence that clerical staff were usually cut to protect clinical posts during cost-saving exercises.

"However, non-clinical tasks are clearly indispensable to patient care, and when staff are cut, their work has to be absorbed by other members of the team, potentially diverting them from clinical tasks," the report said.

Other tasks reportedly undertaken by midwives include scrubbing up and going into theatre during the evening and cleaning up bodily fluids owing to a lack of cleaners.

Meanwhile, figures in the report show that the stillbirth rate has remained virtually unchanged for more than a decade, and currently stands at 5.4 per 1,000 births.

Infant death rates have fallen over the same period since the mid-1990s, from 6.1 per 1,000 live births in 1996 to 4.8 per 1,000 in 2006.

The death rates for mothers, directly linked to problems in pregnancy or at birth, have remained relatively stable at just over six per 100,000 maternities since the mid-1980s.

However, many incidents involving patient safety are regularly reported, according to the study.

Health Minister Ann Keen welcomed the report.

She said: "We plan to work closely with the King's Fund and the Royal College of Midwives over the next few months as part of our commitment to continue to improve the quality of maternity services and support the NHS in taking practical steps and developing sustainable programmes for ensuring the safest possible services."

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