News

A new model of care which aims to ensure that more mums-to-be see their named midwife, or a midwife from a small team, right through their pregnancy journey has been launched at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Trust midwives currently offer the majority of routine antenatal care with named midwives, however women in labour rarely know the midwife providing care during labour and birth.

The new Continuity of Carer model means that women will have continuity of the person looking after them during their maternity journey, before, during and after the birth. This continuity of carer and relationship between care giver and receiver has been proven to lead to better outcomes and safety for woman and babies, as well as offering a more positive and personal experience.

The initial pilot, which has been running in the Meadow Birth Centre since January, has offered the opportunity for a proportion of the county’s women to benefit from Continuity of Carer. At the end of February two further continuity of carer caseloading teams were also launched. The Midwives will book the women and care for them throughout their journey through our maternity unit and homebirths and continue care into in the postnatal period. There are plans to further roll out this model across the county over the next two years.

Caitlin Wilson, Consultant Midwife and lead for the Continuity of Carer work, said: “Continuity of Carer forms a key part of Better Births – the report of the National Maternity Review – which set out a vision for maternity services in England which are safe and personalised; that put the needs of the women, her baby and family at the heart of care; with staff who are supported to deliver high quality care which is continuously improving.

“We’ve listened and learned to what our local mums have been telling us and I’m really proud of the teams rolling this out in the Trust. The launch of the new model has been the result of a lot of hard work from maternity staff and we’re really looking forward to hearing the feedback from the first mums who are cared for as part of this new model.”