Better Births Programme – Better Births Lincolnshire

Our Vision for Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire maternity services should be safe, personalised, kind, professional and family friendly. Every woman should have access to information to enable her to make decisions about her care and where she and her baby can access support that is centered around their individual needs and circumstances
To realise this vision, the Local Maternity System have identified four key principles which will guide service development:

1. Promoting Safe and Effective care

2. Improving Perinatal Mental Health

3. Continuity of Carer and Personalisation – models of care, focused on improving safety and clinical outcomes, developed around women, babies and families based on their needs and decisions, where they have genuine informed choice.

4. Development of the workforce, multidisciplinary training and collaborative working.

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We are working on developing Personalised Care Plans for the women in our area.

This will involve providing information regarding pregnancy, birth and beyond within a booklet for women to access freely to support, assist and benefit all women having input into their own pregnancy care. This booklet will eventually be accessible online, and will be available in different languages and formats to ensure that all our women are offered the same level of information. As you can see below (HIGHLIGHTED IN GREEN) the task of creating this plan is part of the CHOICE & PERSONALISATION work stream devised from the recommendations from Better Births and is required to be delivered by 2019/2020.

Continuity of Carer

We will seek to improve choice and personalisation and ensure that the following aims are achieved:

a) All pregnant women have a personalised care plan.

b) All women are able to make choices about their maternity care during pregnancy, birth and postnatally

c) Most women receive continuity of the person caring for them during pregnancy, birth and postnatally.

d) More women are able to give birth in midwifery settings at home and in midwifery units.

Safety

We will improve safety so that all services have:

a) A reduced rate of stillbirth, neonatal death, maternal death and brain injury during birth by 20% and are on track to make a 50% reduction by 2030.

b) Are investigating and learning from incidents and sharing this learning through the Local Maternity System and with others.

c) Fully engaged in the development and implementation of the NHS Improvement Maternity and Neonatal Health Safety Collaborative

Neonatal Care

Co-Production

This work is built on extensive communication and engagement with women and their families, staff and others involved in the commissioning, provision and support of local maternity services.

The whole program has been co-produced with families to ensure that services are developed to meet their needs, this has included an extensive range of listening clinics around the county, involving staff, families and members of the public.

We will use a variety of channels to allow easy access to up to date local information which will better promote the choices available to women and families.

Perinatal Mental Health

The plan describes how we will help improve provision via early identification and support. As a priority we will:

a) Undertake a scoping exerccise of current practices, caseloads and resources

b) Embed PMH assessments throughout maternity care.

c) Establish robust methods of screening and assessments throughout and after pregnancy.

d) Support delivery of the PMH model and link it to the local sustainability and transformational plan.

e) Embed and implement the perinatal mental health pathway.

Workforce

Our workforce is what will enable us to deliver our future vision and the quality services that we strive for, we know that there are a range of challenges to recruiting and retaining people with the right skills, especially in rural areas. We need to look at new roles and different ways of working, training and developing our people to meet the on-going challenges and population needs.

Workforce planning will need to go across the entire multidisciplinary team. Embedding continuous learning and multi-disciplinary training will help to foster a positive culture of shared responsibility.

Care Choice and Planning

Women’s maternity care should be personalised to their needs and those of her baby and family. Every woman is different, and will be starting from different places.

Women should be able to make decisions about their care during pregnancy, during birth and after their baby’s birth, through an ongoing dialogue with professionals that empowers them. They should feel supported to make well informed decisions through a relationship of mutual trust and respect with health professionals, and their choices should be acted upon.

Digital Solutions

We have fully utilised the power of social media, with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Lincolnshire Better Births website was launched on October 2017, where women and families are able to access help and information right from the start of their pregnancy journey, including booking their pregnancy via an online portal.