Tommy’s, RCM and RCOG form alliance for national maternity improvement programme
on 16 August 2019
Tommy’s, The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have formed an alliance to launch The Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement.
The Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement, which will be established from 1 September 2019, is a three-year programme which aims to create a digital tool to personalise and improve maternity care for women.
The programme has been created in support of the UK Government’s objectives to reduce stillbirth and preterm births by 2025.
The programme will build on existing research and initiatives, focusing on personalised care, which will help to reduce the geographical and socio-demographic inequalities in the quality of care across the country.
The digital tool will be freely available to every pregnant woman and their health care providers in the UK.
Women will be able to input their own data and be signposted to advice related to their care or lifestyle choices that can improve their chances of a healthy baby.
Medical professionals will also contribute clinical data to a woman’s record to assist with personalising their choices.
The digital tool will be achieved through five workstreams:
- Identification and implementation of interventions to mitigate and manage preterm birth
- Identification and implementation of interventions to mitigate and manage stillbirth
- Implementation and improvement science to inform development, implementation and evaluation of interventions to support practice change
- Practical implementation of interventions identified
- Data analysis for improvement.
Commenting on the alliance, CEO of the RCM Gill Walton said: “This is an important and exciting initiative that will support efforts to reduce UK stillbirth rates. It will enable maternity services to identify women who many need additional support so that their care can be tailored appropriately. This project will make our maternity services safer and better.”
Professor Tim Draycott, a Senior Practising Clinician at North Bristol NHS Trust, is the Clinical Director for The Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement.