Our picture shows Lisa Fitzgerald, Quality Improvement Lead at Health Innovation North West Coast; Tony Kelly, National Speciality Advisor for the Maternal and Neonatal Programme at NHS England; and Amanda Andrews, Senior Programme Manager at Health Innovation North West Coast
A programme to help prevent brain injury during childbirth has been firmly embedded in the North West Coast.
The initiative aims to improve care for expectant mothers by helping maternity staff to better identify signs that the baby is in distress during labour so they can react more quickly.
It will also help staff deal with obstetric emergencies more effectively, such as when the baby’s head becomes lodged deep in the mother’s pelvis during a caesarean birth.
The Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) programme aims to reduce the number of injuries that can lead to lifelong conditions such as cerebral palsy.
Health Innovation North West Coast’s team has supported 11 provider trusts in our region to implement the programme.
That work is part of a package of support to maternity units that also includes help in the implementation of the Maternity Early Warning Scores (MEWS) and the Newborn Early Warning Track and Trigger (NEWTT2) systems.
Tony Kelly, National Speciality Advisor for the Maternal and Neonatal Programme at NHS England, said: “Across the country, like here in the North West Coast, we see maternity services striving to improve the care for women, babies and families.
“Organisations are working rapidly and at scale, focussing on many innovations. These are highly structured and evidence-based interventions that involve more cooperative working across the multidisciplinary team.
“What we've seen nationally over the last few years is the relationships that the health innovation networks have with the provider organisations is vital in highlighting what needs to be done.
“They’re providing the support to create the improvements and innovations that we want to see, helping that collaborative approach between organisations.
He added: “As far as the impact we're seeing already with the ABC work, the speed of mobilisation has been astonishing. The level of training that we've got of clinical faculty and their reach into organisations is unprecedented.
“Health Innovation North West Coast have always been a great group to work with. The team bring great focus to what they’re doing. As a region you’ve always worked well together.”
Lisa Fitzgerald, Quality Improvement Lead at Health Innovation North West, led the work as part of our deterioration portfolio. She said: “We want to ensure better outcomes and experiences for women and their families by improving clinical practice and communication.
“The interventions themselves are important, but just as important is to create the right kind of collaboration. All the teams we’ve worked with have been very keen to build the right culture, which is very rewarding for our team.”
Lisa added that ‘train the trainer’ sessions in ABC at five trusts led to an increase in confidence or extreme confidence among participants from 49 per cent to 96 per cent.
Steph Newport, Workforce Development Lead at Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The training was really great – engaging, useful, and delivered so well. All attendees reported how much they learnt and enjoyed the session.”
Health Innovation North West Coast also delivered special interest group sessions to maternity unit teams across our region. Feedback showed that 100 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the sessions were delivered well, while 98 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they learnt something new.
The introduction of the ABC programme is part of a national initiative which follows a pilot in 12 maternity units in England, delivered by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute.
Six of the units were in the North West Coast: the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
News and blogs >
Raising awareness of heart failure Read more
Health Innovation North West Coast joined forces with charity the Pumping Marvellous Foundation to deliver a series of events to raise awareness of heart failure.
Fuel poverty text initiative delivers upbeat message Read more
A simple text message was at the heart of a successful campaign to support people whose health condition makes them vulnerable to the impact of fuel poverty.
Double honour for heart failure team Read more
A charity has honoured two Health Innovation North West Coast colleagues for their contribution to the improved treatment of people with heart failure.
Coalition will transform the lives of thousands with respiratory disease Read more
Health Minister Dr Zubir Ahmed has launched an ambitious new national coalition which will speed up diagnosis, improve treatment and transform the lives of thousands of people affected by asthma and lung disease.