We read with great interest the letter by Petsas, Vollmer and Barnes [1]. Their audit shows that inadvertent peri-operative hypothermia is a clear and present problem in the obstetric population. An audit carried out in early 2008 in our institution showed that nearly 11% of patients were hypothermic in recovery and that 19% and 26% suffered from shivering in theatre and recovery, respectively. These results are somewhat in contrast to the findings for ear, nose and throat surgery that were published recently [2]. We agree that it would be valuable to have had guidance on warming of obstetric patients in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) inadvertent peri-operative hypothermia guideline [3]. Unfortunately, despite considerable enthusiasm from the Guideline Development Group, NICE deemed it to be outside their remit.
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