Ante-natal and Post-natal care

Netmums have been running a survey recently about the amount of ante-natal and post-natal care received by Mums; I’ve also been contacted about a news article being written on the topic: it seems that people are thinking about this whole issue again.
I believe that quality ante-natal and post-natal care are vital. The chance to meet others in the same boat, an informal situation where you can ask questions and discuss issues, a forum for learning from a range of professionals; this is what ante-natal classes should be about. And once baby’s born, we need these things even more.
I was lucky when my first was born, I had weekly ante-natal classes for about 8 weeks where I met a bunch of other Mums I’m still close friends with. We had excellent classes on everything from Baths to Bottle Feeding. Once baby was born we had access to weekly ante-natal classes, presided over by a health visitor, and basically a chance to have a good natter, talk to a professional and get baby weighed.
By the time number two was on his way the ante-natal classes had changed to about 4 sessions in an evening - completely useless for those of us who already have children (perhaps that was the idea) - and no ante-natal classes at all.
Personally I think this is a terrible thing, but I’ve brought it up with midwives, health visitors and doctors and they don’t seem that bothered. Only the pregnant and new Mums I’ve talked to realise how significant the loss of these services is to us New Mums who so often feel isolated and even miserable during and after pregnancy.