Better Births: Improving outcomes of maternity services in England – A Five Year Forward View for maternity care (updated 22 August 2017)

Summary

This report from NHS England on the National Maternity Review sets out a vision for the planning, design and safe delivery of maternity services; how women, babies and families will be able to get the type of care they want; and how staff will be supported to deliver such care.

Content

Key actions/recommendations

• Personalised care centred on the woman, her baby and her family based around their needs and their decisions where they have genuine choice informed by unbiased information.
• Continuity of carer, to ensure safe care based on a relationship of mutual trust and respect in line with the woman’s decisions.
• Safer care, with professionals working together across boundaries to ensure rapid referral, and access to the right care in the right place; leadership for a safety culture within and across organisations; and investigation, honesty and learning when things go wrong.
• Better postnatal and perinatal mental health care, to address the historic underfunding and provision in these two vital areas, which can have a significant impact on the life chances and wellbeing of the woman, baby and family.
• Multi-professional working, breaking down barriers between midwives, obstetricians and other professionals to deliver safe and personalised care for women and their babies.
• Working across boundaries to provide and commission maternity services to support personalisation, safety and choice, with access to specialist care whenever needed.
• A payment system that fairly and adequately compensates providers for delivering high quality care to all woman, whilst supporting commissioners to commission for personalisation, safety and choice.