Maternity Units Awarded For Innovative Services

Developing inclusive services for disadvantaged groups and communities:

Joint Winners

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust developed the Goodwin Volunteer Doula project which focuses on listening to the needs of local women from disadvantaged communities to ensure their needs are being met. The volunteers are trained in child protection, domestic violence awareness, hospital tours, antenatal and postnatal roles, health and safety and breastfeeding.  

Ashford and St Peters Hospitals NHS Trust developed maternity services within HM Bronzefield Prison.  This includes specialist midwifery care, obstetric ultrasound and high risk obstetric consultant care.  Prior to this service, pregnant women within the prison received little or sporadic antenatal care and, in some case, none at all. Since the prison opened in 2004, the Head of Midwifery and the prison directors had regular meetings to discuss the care pathway for pregnant women in prison, and funding was finally obtained in April 2007. 

Highly Commended

Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust for employing an ethnic health worker in an area where there is a high percentage of mothers from Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities; she is trained in breastfeeding support, smoking cessation and providing advice on co-sleeping, nutrition and welfare benefits. 

Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust where the teenage pregnancy midwifery team has worked closely with young parents and other professionals and community groups to determine what is needed to provide a high standard of holistic care to pregnant teenagers, encompassing continuity of care and support. 

The normality of childbirth

Winner

Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust - in particular New Cross Maternity for the range of measures to introduce and promote a new water birth service, with the aim of increasing normal birth. Over 85% of midwives have been trained and previous waterbirth parents now provide feedback to prospective parents who may want to use the birth pool.  They have also provided specific sessions for teenagers and have organised interpreting services for women who wish to attend the preparation classes.

Highly Commended

Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust have developed a new midwifery module focussed on promoting and facilitating normal birth. It provides other midwives within the West Midlands the opportunity to address the rising trend in caesarean section rates and raise awareness and understanding on how to promote normal birth within their Trusts. 

Responsive, woman-centred, family focussed postnatal care

Winner

Burton Hospitals NHS Trust for the bereavement support service aimed at ensuring those who have lost a baby are treated with sensitivity. An extensive training programme was developed to target all staff who came into contact with bereaved parents and special bereavement care suites have been developed, with ensuites and sleeping facilities for the partner, to ensure parents do not have to receive care in the labour ward.  

Highly Commended

Pennine Acute NHS Trust for their production of a light-hearted book which challenges the myths of breastfeeding.  ‘Saggy boobs’ aims to raise awareness of the facts about breastfeeding amongst the public and professional bodies.   

Involvement of women in providing local maternity services

Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation NHS Trust who, despite grassroots opposition to a birth centre, saw the opening of the Huddersfield Birth Centre and Midwifery Led Unit.  The key to its success was user involvement and ensuring the Trust listened to what women would value in a local facility through focus groups.  A set of evidence based pathways were developed by the consultant midwife to build awareness and confidence in the birth centre concept for the public and local midwives.

Highly Commended

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust for its women’s focus group.  The group of user volunteers meet monthly to support their local maternity services and work in partnership with the maternity services staff to contribute to the service development within the maternity department.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust who were nominated for involving women and families in the improvement of maternity services in Petersfield by reopening the Grange Maternity Centre twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The Trust was particularly responsive to calls from local families and actively encouraged user involvement in the development of the Centre by asking users to sit on the Maternity Development Group.   

Ends

For further information, please contact the NCT Press Office on 020 8752 2404 or email press@nct.org.uk .  Out of hours, please call 07722 839428.

Notes to Editors: ·        

The APPG on Maternity was established in November 2001 to raise the profile of maternity services within Parliament. Over the last seven years, it has hosted meetings on different aspects of maternity services ranging from the Children’s NSF to domestic violence to breastfeeding. The APPG is a cross party committee of MPs and Peers that works closely with the Maternity Care Working Party and is serviced by the NCT charity.  ·        

Photographs of winners available on request. 

The NCT – formerly the National Childbirth Trust - is the UK’s leading charity on pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Every year the charity supports thousands of parents through an incredible life-changing experience, offering relevant information and mutual support through our network of over 300 local branches, UK wide helplines, antenatal and early days courses, breastfeeding counselling and peer support schemes. For further information visit our website at www.nct.org.uk or call NCT on 0300 330 0770.