Event details
This Westminster Health Policy forum conference will discuss the next steps for improving care and support for pregnant women.
Delegates will assess priorities for the safety and quality of maternity services moving forward following the release of the Final Ockenden review: Independent Review of Maternity Services, and for the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigation Special Health Authority (MNSI) division of the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch being established for April 2023.
It will be an opportunity to assess priorities for the Secretary of State, and to examine the future outlook for supporting pregnant women following the publication of the Women’s Health Strategy for England, which highlighted a need for pregnant women to be listened to - and included the ambition for 4m people to receive personalised care by March 2024.
Areas for discussion include:
- personalised care: assessment of individual needs - improving the access to mental health services - promoting healthy lifestyle choices during pre-conception, pregnancy, and early years
- workforce support: encouraging professional development, including funding and education - maternal workforce recruitment and retention - improving senior leadership
- improving patient safety
- ensuring strong communication in maternity teams
- providing appropriate pregnancy risk assessment
- recommendations and guidance for clinical decision making
- encouraging and delivering continuity of care
- progress and next steps for the Maternity Transformation Programme following the Better Births report
- investigation: priorities for the MNSI and ensuring safety concerns are investigated and addressed - learning from mistakes - listening to families
- quality of care: developing best practice guidelines - delivering high quality services - improving pregnancy outcomes - improving communication with pregnant women
- inequalities: addressing variation in service provision - tackling disparities in pregnancy outcomes, particularly for ethnic minorities.