A further £3million is being committed to a programme to reduce brain injuries at birth, as the latest step towards halving the rate of brain injury during or soon after birth by 2025.
The new round of funding builds on almost £2million already committed to the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) programme, to develop tools and training to monitor and respond to a baby’s wellbeing during labour, and manage complications with babies’ positioning during caesarean sections.
The first phase, announced in July, saw over 500 healthcare professionals and over 140 women and birth partners consulted. Nearly all healthcare professionals surveyed agreed there should be a national approach to monitoring babies during labour, adopted by all NHS trusts. Women and their birth partners called for better information, clear communication and involvement in decision-making.
As a result, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), in partnership with the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute at the University of Cambridge (THIS Institute), will lead the second phase to roll out tools and training across the NHS.
To enable midwives and obstetricians to better work together to deliver safe care, a number of initiatives are being devised, including:
- the development and testing of national tools to monitor and identify any deterioration in the baby’s health during childbirth
- training for midwives and doctors focusing on teamwork, co-operation and positive working relationships, alongside technical skills, is being developed and pilot tested
- a strategy to improve national databases to help identify what enables excellent care, bringing together Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports and published data on national brain injury rates
- a childbirth safety culture toolkit to be developed and piloted which will include a new approach to ensure the whole system learns from good practice and mistakes.
Dr Edward Morris, President of the RCOG, said: “By drawing on expertise from across the health sector, and listening to the experiences of women and their families, we are developing tools to support maternity units in providing the best possible care to pregnant women and their babies, and establish clear processes for effective foetal monitoring.
“Any event of avoidable brain injury is tragic, for the newborn, for the family, and for the midwives and obstetricians involved.
“All maternity staff want to ensure that both mother and baby have the best possible outcomes. The development of these approaches to monitor babies is key to supporting maternity staff to safely deliver babies.”
Gill Walton, chief executive of the RCM, said: “While rare, brain injury to a baby is devastating for the mother and her family, and even more so when those injuries could have been avoided. We must do all we can to prevent this happening and this latest funding is a boost to that end.
“The call from women, midwives and doctors is clear. They want and need support, tools, training and systems to stop these tragedies happening.
“This welcome injection of money and the work it will fund will take us further towards reducing brain injury around birth, and the RCM along with our partners in this initiative will continue to work to hard to make this happen. There is more work to be done but this is another positive step in the right direction.”
Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, director of THIS Institute, added: “The outstanding feature of the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) programme is that it’s co-designed with maternity staff and those using maternity services.
“By combining clinical expertise, lived experiences, and the best possible scientific evidence in this area, ABC will support better identification of when babies are deteriorating and the right escalation and action when babies need it.
“ABC will also address the challenges of impacted foetal head at caesarean section – a problem that needs to be addressed through high quality training and support.”
In addition to the latest round of funding, the Government previously provided almost £450,000 to the RCOG to develop a new workforce planning tool to improve how maternity units calculate their medical staffing requirements, to better support families and babies.
Due to be freely available to NHS trusts across the country next year, the tool will calculate the number of obstetricians at all grades required locally and nationally to provide a safe, personalised maternity service within the context of the wider workforce.
NHS England is also investing £95 million, announced earlier this year, to deliver 1,200 more midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians.
