Midwifery student attends 1000 Lives Plus

Lauren Quirke, 3^rd year Midwifery student at Cardiff University recently attended the Transforming Maternity Services event in June.

 

Representatives from each of the health boards and trusts in NHS Wales attended the day to share ideas and discuss the implementation of the 1000 Lives Plus methodology within Maternity Services. Highlights from the day include measuring improvements, DVT risk assessment, community & birth interventions, and recognition and response to sepsis.

 

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Lauren explains...

 

I was fortunate enough to be invited by the Wales Student Chapter to attend the recent 1000 Lives Plus Mini-Collaborative, ‘Transforming Maternity Services’ held at Cardiff City Stadium. As students in training for careers in the healthcare profession, we are sometimes on the periphery of the changing face of service provision, and so it was refreshing to attend an event that was essentially a platform for implementing change and improvements in maternity care in line with the 1000 Lives Plus framework. 

 

Representatives from each of the Local Health Boards in Wales were in attendance to discuss individual changes in policies and protocols that are currently being introduced in their areas. Although there was slight variation in opinion, the main aims and principles of the mini-collaborative were clear, that a uniform approach be taken to provide holistic care for pregnant or recently delivered women in Wales, reliably and consistently.  Particular emphasis was placed on the adoption of audited care bundles for all women with a hospital admission in order to accurately risk assess for DVT/VTE and sepsis, two of the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality highlighted in the recently published Eighth Report of the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom 2005-2008 (Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries 2011). It was evident that all LHB’s in Wales have been proactively involved in providing a multi-disciplinary approach to reduce incidences of such conditions by enhancing early recognition and responses. Key resources include use of the SBAR tool in communication, the Sepsis Six Bundle, use of MEOWS Charts and thromboprophylaxis assessment, the effectiveness of which will be audited and evaluated regularly. 

 

It was therefore an extremely reassuring and informative session that I found hugely beneficial. As a final year student I am about to embark upon a career as a newly qualified midwife, and as such will be required to incorporate my employer’s protocols and guidelines into everyday practice, applying the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence.

 

 

The 1000 Lives Plus Programme ‘Transforming Maternity Services’ embraces this at it’s very core with a robust Model for Improvement. The concept is simple: if the use of care bundles can improve care for one woman, it can improve care for ten, for 100 and for 1000 in time, extending to every woman accessing maternity services in Wales by 2015.   My thanks are extended to Victoria Evans-Park for facilitating my attendance as a member of the Wales Student Chapter, and to her colleagues for hosting the event.