Transforming Maternity Services Together (TST) at Barts health

Newham University Hospital is part of Bart’s health NHS Trust which is the biggest maternity provider in the UK with over 16,000 births per year, its serves a diverse, transient and socially deprived population.  Our... [ view full abstract ]

Newham University Hospital is part of Bart’s health NHS Trust which is the biggest maternity provider in the UK with over 16,000 births per year, its serves a diverse, transient and socially deprived population.  Our maternity unit has both high activity and acuity with 6500 births a year and a projected birth rate increase in the next 10 years. Capacity in hospitals is already stretched to the limit, but in reality many of our women do not need to be in hospital and can birth safely at home or in either of Newham’s Birth Centre’s. In 2015 the majority of women in Newham (78%) gave birth in an obstetric unit with care led by doctors rather than midwives.  

Transforming Services Together (TST) is a North East London initiative that is a collaboration of health care professionals, stake holders and users working in partnership to design a 5 year strategy and vision for maternity services. It was recognised that the majority of women were not offered all four choices of birth place as recommended by NICE, 2014 and that women were giving birth in areas inappropriate for their risk profiles. Therefore the aspiration for Newham was to increase births out of the obstetric unit from 22% to 40 % by 2020.

Our TST philosophy is designed to wrap the care around women and their families so they are at the heart of everything we do. At Newham our purpose was to develop and embed a sustainable midwifery model that would provide women choice in relation to place of birth, care closer to home and continuity of carer, to reduce unnecessary interventions and to ensure women are cared for in the place of their choice. The Maternity Review came at an ideal time for Newham as it gave credibility to our strategy and supported our vision.

 The Maternity Review and Better Births document came at an ideal time for Newham as it gave credibility to our strategy and supported our vision. According to Better Births more women would like to have a choice regarding place of birth and many would prefer to birth out of obstetric unit including home and birth centres.