Maternity Triage (Good Practice Paper No. 17, December 2023)

Summary

This is the first edition of this guidance, published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. It highlights the challenges in maternity triage departments* and defines their role as emergency portals into maternity units.

It has been produced in response to a UK Government and Parliament petition in 2021, which requested a national review of triage procedures used by NHS maternity wards, and proposed to mandate the implementation of a standardised risk assessment-based system for maternity triage; assessing every woman within 15 minutes and prioritising care based on urgency.

The paper is aimed at stakeholders responsible for developing and improving maternity services. It presents the recommendations for the operational structure and pathways within maternity triage to improve safety and experience for both women and staff, by recommending implementation of the Birmingham Symptom-specific Obstetric Triage System (BSOTS), while recognising opportunities for future research and evaluation