Introduction
The midwives, doctors and everyone in NHS Lothian Maternity Services work hard to provide services where women, birthing people, their partners and families, feel cared for, listened to and in safe hands.
Across Scotland and the UK there is increased attention on maternity services. The purpose of government-led inspections is to improve maternity care for families. The resulting reports highlight areas where work is necessary to make care better and safer. NHS Lothian understands how the content and media coverage of the inspection report for our Maternity Services may worry families who are accessing our services.
Since 2022, our Maternity & Neonatal Improvement Programme has been using the latest evidence, local data, and national guidance to improve maternity care and reduce any avoidable harm. We hope that sharing information about this work will provide reassurance to all those who use our services.
By learning from our data, and from listening to women, families and staff, we are making changes to provide safer and better care for everyone.
Our improvement program covers several areas of maternity and neonatal care. To give a sense of this work, here are some examples of current projects:
- Birth: we want to reduce the risk of severe tears of the birth passage that may happen when the baby’s head comes out.
- Pregnancy care: we want to know as soon as possible if a baby is not growing as well as expected.
- Triage: we are working to make sure women who arrive at our maternity unit with a worry or complication are seen as quickly as possible, so urgent needs can be identified and acted on.
- Maternal deterioration: we want to spot early warning signs by checking your vital signs (blood pressure, oxygen levels etc) at the right times, so we can help you before you become seriously unwell.
- Fetal wellbeing: we want to monitor your baby’s heart rate carefully during pregnancy and labour so we can spot any problems early and act quickly.
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