Research, Information and data sources
Where you choose to have your baby and whom you choose to look after you in labour will affect the type of birth you have and the care you receive. This website explains your options and gives you some information to help you make those choices this site also includes the latest maternity statistics, UK-wide, nationally and by area/unit.
www.disabledparentsnetwork.org.uk
The Disabled Parents Network (DPN) is a national organisation of and for disabled people who are parents or who hope to become parents, and their families, friends and supporters.
The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) is a research unit set up in 1978 by the Department of Health. Although its remit covers England and Wales, the Unit's research and collaborative links are worldwide and its work has influenced national and international policy. The Unit has expanded considerably in recent years and now has over 50 staff including epidemiologists, obstetricians, midwives, nurses, paediatricians, social scientists, information specialists, economists, statisticians, and computing, administrative and clerical staff. The unit is conducting or has completed a number of important research projects such as the Birthplace project, which is an integrated programme of research designed to compare outcomes of births planned at home, in different types of midwifery units, and in hospital units with obstetric services. evaluating the safety and outcomes arising from different birth locations.
The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health was set up in 2003, bringing together two previous organisations. Its aim is to improve the health of mothers, babies and children by carrying out confidential enquiries on a nationwide basis and by widely disseminating our findings and recommendations. Publications include the triennial "Why Mothers Die" which examines the factors leading to the deaths of every woman who died during pregnancy, childbirth or up to a year postnatally. Similar analysis has been developed on an annual basis covering perinatal mortality, with recommendations for units to improve outcomes and learn form these incidents.
The National Patient Safety Agency is a Special Health Authority that was established in July 2001 to co-ordinate the reporting of patient safety incidents and to learn from these incidents in order to improve patient safety in the NHS. The Agency works locally with trusts to use root cause analysis and other tools to investigate and learn from incidents, and runs a National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) which provides trending and prevalence information on incidents.
The NHS Litigation Authority is a Special Health Authority (part of the NHS), responsible for handling negligence claims made against NHS bodies in England. In addition to dealing with claims when they arise, they have an active risk management programme to help raise standards of care in the NHS and hence reduce the number of incidents leading to claims. Entitled the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, the scheme enables trusts to reduce their premium by being assessed and accredited against detailed standards relating to safe practice and good governance.
The Department of Health is the source of policy and guidance documents but navigating the website can be tricky unless you are clear on what to search for. Use the "policy" and "useful documents" section to find commonly used documents and contact us if there are others of interest that you feel should be referenced there.
The Care Services Improvement Partnership - Children Young People and Families Programme is a DH sponsored programme of activities and information sharing designed to help health professionals improve care and learn from each other on improved ways of working as they implement recent National policy initiatives. This website provides news, links and connections to children and maternity related initiatives and documents.
Child Health Mapping is a programme of annual data collection fro children's and maternity services. Still in its early years, the programme has produced and atlas and interactive website to provide information on costs, staffing, service provision and patient numbers to use in planning and monitoring services. IN addition the site hosts tow self-assessment tools which PCTs have been encouraged to use to monitor the capability of their local services to provide the care defined in "Maternity Matters"(hotlink to the document section)
The Baby Friendly Initiative is an international programme to encourage increased breastfeeding, run by the UNICEF. Matenrity units apply to become accredited and follow a programme of inspections, training and policy development towards achieving the standard. The programme is recommended as cost-effective by NICE in their postnatal care guidelines. The courses and assessments are charged to units at cost (BabyFriendly is a charity) which can be cited as a disincentive for the programme.
The National Clinical Governance Support team works with trusts to improve their clinical governance and develop resources to assist in this. For maternity services, there is a dedicated website giving practice examples but it has fallen into disrepair recently as the resources allocated to the NCGST have been reduced. Still some good ideas click here.
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/current_projects/maternity_services_inquiry/resources_on_the.html
Currently conducting an inquiry into the safety of maternity units, the Kings Fund is a health thinktank that researches and comments on health policy and provides organisational and personal development training courses
www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk/
Details of a coalition of 30 organisations committed to pressing for parliamentary change to breasffeeding legislation.
Health Rights Information Scotland
Health Rights Information Scotland produces clear, accurate, and up to date information about health rights in Scotland in various languages.
The organisation's website is a useful resource for both patients and information providers in the NHS in Scotland.
Available via the website is a series of leaflets including information for patients in Scotland about rights and responsibilities when using the NHS (The NHS and You), complaints, confidentiality, consent and health records. These leaflets are available in a range of languages and formats and versions of some leaflets have been produced specifically for children and young people.
The website also has a specific section for people looking to develop information for patients and the organisation also provides direct advice and assistance to those producing patient information
Maternal Link is the Pathfinder for maternity on the Department of Health Social Enterprise Scheme and aims to support commissioners and others working in the maternity field, to develop sustainable community midwifery services. MSLCs may find it useful to approach their commissioner with a body that could help with the implementation of change at a variety of levels; supporting valuable MSLC work as well as the trusts themselves. Our website has further information about what we do including our unique toolkit which lays out the practical steps for trusts to achieve sustainable change.