Our Trust is at the forefront of training midwives to care for mums-to-be who suddenly become very unwell during their labour and birth.
We are one of the first Trusts in the region to introduce a course ensuring women and families who choose to have their baby at CHFT receive the best possible care available.
And today we held the first one-day course in the Boardroom at HRI.
Although the UK has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, there are increasing numbers of women being admitted to maternity units acutely unwell during their pregnancy, labour or in the post-natal period. The aim of the course is to provide them with the same emergency care as non-obstetric patients and it should be delivered by a skilled and trained team.
The training supports midwives to recognise the acutely unwell, deteriorating woman and provide immediate care, escalating to the critical care team if necessary.
Our midwife, Karen Armsden, together with midwife Rachel Clifford have helped bring the course to CHFT together with anaesthetist Matt Williams.
Karen said: " We feel that this course will provide CHFT midwives with the necessary competencies to enable them to recognise and treat the women who become acutely unwell."
She added: "It has been a privilege to have been given the opportunity by Anne-Marie Henshaw, in her previous role as Head of Midwifery (now Assistant Director of Quality and Safety), to bring this course to CHFT and to Gail Wright, current Head of Midwifery, for the continued support and development of the course.
The Maternal AIM course has been developed by the Greater Manchester Critical Care Skills Institute following the 2011 Confidential Enquiry in to Maternal Death. This report outlined key priorities related to managing acute illness in this patient group which included identifying and managing deteriorating illness.
The aims of the one day course are:
- To optimise the outcomes for women at risk of developing acute illness
- Enhance the knowledge, confidence and performance of ward staff dealing with acutely ill women
- Encourage teamwork and communication
- Promote a multidisciplinary approach to care
- Maximise the efficient use of critical care services
- Address clinical governance and risk
It has been agreed at regional level (via the Maternal Enhanced and Critical Care, MEaCC, group) that this course will become the standard for all midwives in the region and we are going to be one of the first Trusts in the region to start running the course.
Anaesthetist, Dr Matt Williams, said: " We have absolutely no doubt this course will improve the care we deliver to our women attending the Trust and will bring together colleagues from different specialities to share experiences and learn from each other."
And Caren Reid from our Clinical Skills & Simulation team added: "We are very pleased to be part of this course. We are going from strength to strength in the world of simulation despite being only a small team, and we are becoming known as leaders in simulation based learning regionally.
"So we are immensely proud of the new courses we support and the faculty that give up sometimes their own time, to ensure extremely high quality simulation is offered at our Trust".