Maternity and Neonatal

About the programme

The programme aims to:

  • Contribute to the reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths, still births and brain injuries that occur at or soon after birth
  • Contribute to the reduction in the national rate of preterm births
  • Improve the safety and outcomes of maternal and neonatal care by reducing unwarranted variation and provide a high-quality healthcare experience for all women, babies and families across maternity and neonatal care settings in England.

There are three main priorities:

  • To improve the optimisation and stabilisation of the preterm infant. This involves ensuring antenatal corticosteroids are provided at optimal times and offered to women in preterm labour; and maternal breast milk is received within 24 hours of birth.
  • Early recognition of and management of deterioration in women and babies through supporting implementation of the Maternity Early Warning Score (MEWS) and the Neonatal Early Warning Track and Trigger (NEWTT2) embedded within an effective PIER pathway.
  • Though the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) programme we are supporting maternity staff to improve clinical practice, communication and care.  The focus is on two high risk areas; recognising and responding to fetal deterioration during labour; and managing impacted fetal head during caesarean birth.

Who we are working with

We work closely with the national MatNeo Safety Improvement team, while our regional collaboration includes close links with all the maternity and neonatal systems in the region:

  • West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity Neonatal System
  • Humber Coast and Vale Local Maternity Neonatal Systems
  • South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Local Maternity and Neonatal System

We also work with:

  • The Chief Regional Midwife
  • The Yorkshire and Humber Maternity Clinical Network
  • Yorkshire and Humber Neonatal Operational Delivery Network
  • local Maternity Neonatal Voice Partnerships
  • North East & North Cumbria Health Innovation Network
  • Senior leaders and frontline clinical colleagues from across the multi-disciplinary teams including preterm birth and neonatal teams at all our provider trusts.

We support by:

  • Using quality improvement methodologies to support our local healthcare providers and systems to embed continuous quality improvement.
  • Continuing to support all components of PIER, including the evidence-based framework BSOTS (Birmingham Symptom-specific Obstetric Triage System) and Each Baby Counts Learn and Support toolkit, to help implementation of deterioration tools MEWS and NEWTT2. This also includes the new ABC track and trigger tool designed to integrate maternal and fetal risk factors to support timely escalation and response to intrapartum fetal deterioration (IFD).
  • Supporting systematic implementation in digital organisations once the deterioration tools are released and ready.
  • Facilitating teams to come together through our quarterly Patient Safety Network and continuing to share learning and best practice.
  • Working with our dedicated ABC clinical faculty to provide specialist training and support to all maternity units to implement an evidence-based approach to improve communication, coordination, and safety when impacted fetal head (IFH) occurs.
  • Supporting perinatal teams to create and craft the conditions for a positive culture of safety and continuous improvement, enabling a more psychologically safe, collaborative, and supportive workplace.
  • Focussing on understanding women’s experiences to improve equity and equality.

How to get involved

Please contact:

For Optimisation and Deterioration:

Helen Brown helen.brown@yhia.nhs.uk – Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme workstream lead

For Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth:

Liz Watson liz.watson2@yhia.nhs.uk – ABC workstream lead