Search the hub

Published in Acta Paediatrica, the parents of a baby who was born prematurely and died, share their experiences of the communication and choices given to them before the birth.

For the fourth year, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA), in partnership with the Patient and Family Advisory Committee (PFAC), held the Patient Experience Awards programme to recognise and help spread knowledge about initiatives that improve the patient experience in accessing and receiving healthcare services in Alberta, Canada. Applications spanned all corners of the province and came from a wide variety of care settings, and ranged from “elegantly simple” to complex in nature. The initiatives described reflected the diverse healthcare needs of Albertans and were equally diverse in their approach to healthcare improvement. However, they all had one thing in common: A desire to make change and deliver a better patient and family member experience.

A three-year programme launched in February 2017 to support improvement in the quality and safety of maternity and neonatal units across England - formerly known as the Maternal and Neonatal Health Safety Collaborative. NHS Improvement aim to: improve the safety and outcomes of maternal and neonatal care by reducing unwarranted variation and provide a high quality healthcare experience for all women, babies and families across maternity and neonatal care settings in England contribute to the national ambition, set out in Better Birthsopens in a new window of reducing the rates of maternal and neonatal deaths, stillbirths, and brain injuries that occur during or soon after birth by 20% by 2020.

Infants born preterm or with complex congenital conditions are surviving to discharge in growing numbers and often require significant monitoring and coordination of care in the ambulatory setting. This toolkit, produced in the US, includes resources for hospitals that wish to improve safety when newborns transition home from their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) by creating a Health Coach Program, tools for coaches, and information for parents and families of newborns who have spent time in the NICU.

The purpose of this investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) was to help improve patient safety in relation to the instructions 999 call handlers give to women and pregnant people who are waiting for an ambulance because of an emergency during their pregnancy. The HSIB investigation reviewed the case of Amy, who was 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant with her first child. She contacted 999 after experiencing abdominal cramps and bleeding. While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Amy received pre-arrival instructions which were generated through a clinical decision support system (CDSS) from a non-clinical call handler. Amy was then taken by ambulance to hospital where her baby, Benjamin, was delivered by emergency caesarean section. Amy had excessive blood loss due to a placental abruption and was admitted to the high dependency unit for 12 hours following the birth. Benjamin required resuscitation to help him breathe on his own, he was intubated, and he received 72 hours of therapeutic cooling. He spent 13 days in hospital.