The sales reps on our maternity wards - “I said no and they still took the photos”

Betsi cadwaldr Health Board received £1922 from data marketing firm Bounty in 2016/17 to gain access to north Wales maternity wards according to an FOI published on the Health Boards website.

The firm which distributes bounty goody bags and tries to sell new parents photo’s of their newborns has received wide spread criticism from Mums and families across the UK due to its hard sell tactics at the bedside. The details of newborn babies and their mothers are harvested on the post natal ward and then resold repeatedly to a wide variety of companies.

Plaid Cymru Councillor Carrie Harper said: “ Calls to end this cash for access practise have so far been ignored and the contract between Betsi cadwaldr Health Board and Bounty is in place unitil 2020. Allowing high pressure selling on a maternity ward is completely unethical. There aren’t many people more vulnerable than women after they’ve just given birth, they should be free to recover from childbirth and to bond with their babies in peace.”

“Many parents reluctantly consent as they don’t distinguish these reps from the many medical professionals who visit them on the ward. These tactics are bad enough on the High Street but we certainly shouldn’t be allowing them on our maternity wards.”

Wrexham mother Jenny Millar recalled her experience of Bounty following the birth of her second child, she said: “A rep asked to take photo’s and I said no straight away, I turned over and tried to go back to sleep, then I heard the camera going. She came around the other side of the bed to show me the pictures and to try and persuade me to buy them, I said no again and had to repeat myself 3 times before she finally went.”

Another local mother also relayed her experience: "Three times I had to tell the Bounty rep I didn't want a picture on the maternity ward. I was struggling to establish breast feeding after a caesarean section and I really did not want to be bothered but even with the curtains closed she kept intruding. They should not be allowed near women at such a vulnerable time. They dress it up as taking a nice picture and giving free samples but in reality they are using one of the most precious times in a woman's life to dreg for data to hawk to the highest bidder. They're utterly shameless."

Carrie Harper added: “I’ll be writing to Betsi cadwaldr Heath Board for more information about this contract and to urge them to put the interests of mothers and their newborns first, the contract should not be renewed when it ends in April 2020”.