Obstetric emergencies in the home-a training needs survey

Overview

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM 2021) recently published “Delivering better maternity care-the case for a new strategy for NI” . The document reviews the recommendations of the previous maternity strategy for Northern Ireland (2012) alongside the RQIA (2017) midterm review and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on how we deliver maternity services.

The RCM acknowledges choice as a core value of maternity drivers and strategies stating that health trusts should “provide maternity care women require, where they require it”. An integral part of choice in maternity care, is a woman’s choice of birth setting. 

Why your views matter

The home birth setting brings with it, its own set of challenges especially with the changing demographics of women in our care.  We have also found an increase in women who require complex care requesting home births.

The RQIA (2017) recommend that the Maternity Strategy Implementation Group (MSIG) membership should include GP & NIAS with a focus on transfer times.  These issues have become even more pertinent since the start of the pandemic.

We wish to support staff  attending home births by developing an accredited multiprofessional training programme for the management of obstetric emergencies in the home birth setting.

We have developed this short survey in order to ensure the training meets your needs