EWJ June 61 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 32
New NHS Programme to Reduce
Brain Injury in Childbirth
Government to roll out the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) programme nationally.
Expectant mothers will receive safer maternity care as
a new NHS programme to help prevent brain injury
during childbirth is rolled out across the country.
maternity units achieve outcomes comparable to the
highest-performing 20% of trusts.
This government is dedicated to improving maternity
services more widely and is committed to training
thousands more midwives, as well as setting an explicit
target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality
gap.
The Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC)
programme will help maternity staff to better identify
signs that the baby is in distress during labour so they
can act quickly.
It will also help staff respond more effectively to
obstetric emergencies, such as where the baby’s head
becomes lodged deep in the mother’s pelvis during a
caesarean birth.
In addition, we have allocated an extra £57 million for
Start for Life services, helping expectant and new
mothers with their infants by providing expert,
trusted advice and guidance around pregnancy, birth
and motherhood.
The government programme, which will begin from
September and follows an extensive development
phase and pilot scheme, will reduce the number of
avoidable brain injuries during childbirth - helping to
prevent lifelong conditions like cerebral palsy.
Ranee Thakar, President of RCOG, said:
The ABC programme supports multidisciplinary
maternity teams to deliver safer, more personalised
care. Hundreds of maternity staff, including obstetricians, midwives and anaesthetists, have been involved
in developing and testing this quality improvement
programme.
The national rollout is only one step the government
is taking to improve maternity services under its Plan
for Change to fix the health service, as it reforms the
NHS to ensure all women receive safe, personalised
and compassionate care.
We have heard what a difference it makes, supporting
teams to work effectively together in time-sensitive
and high-pressure situations. RCOG is extremely
proud to have been part of this fantastic collaboration.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:
All expectant mothers giving birth in an NHS hospital should have peace of mind that they are in safe
hands.
Gill Walton, RCM Chief Executive, said:
Every midwife, maternity support worker,
obstetrician, anaesthetist and sonographer wants to
provide good, safe care - and the best way to do that
is by working and training together. The ABC programme has brought together all those involved in
maternity care, offering practical solutions to some of
the most acute clinical challenges.
This vital programme will give staff across the country
the right tools and training to deliver better care to
women and their babies, reducing the devastating
impact of avoidable brain injury.
Under our Plan for Change, we are supporting trusts
to make rapid improvements and training thousands
more midwives - but I know more needs to be done.
We will put women’s voices right at the heart of our
reforms as we work to improve care.
Crucially the ABC programme tools and training have
been developed based on the voices of women, families and maternity staff. This has been the key to the
success of the pilot programme.
The national rollout follows a pilot in 12 maternity
units that was launched in October 2024 and delivered by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Royal College of Midwives
(RCM) and The Healthcare Improvement Studies
(THIS) Institute.
Equally the will and drive of midwives and the wider
multidisciplinary team to improve safety and outcomes for women and their families has been evident
across the course of the training at the pilot sites.
The ABC programme has the potential to reduce the
devastating impact of brain injuries during childbirth
and RCM is proud to have been part of this innovative
programme and we hope to see this adopted and
implemented across maternity services.
The pilot has shown the programme will fill an
important gap in current training by bringing multidisciplinary teams together to work more collaboratively than ever before, to improve outcomes. The
programme will give clinicians more confidence to
take swift action managing an emergency during
labour.
Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, Director of THIS
Institute, said:
The ABC programme design is based on the principle
that evidence-based, co-designed patient-focused standardisation of clinical practice can reduce unwarranted variation and improve care and outcomes.
It is expected to reduce unacceptable inequalities in
maternity outcomes across England - so that most
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
30
JUNE 2025
