Improving safety, outcomes and experience in maternity and neonatal care is of paramount importance to West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity System. It builds on the evidence from Better Births report (2016) as well as national publications such as the NHS Long Term Plan (2019) and Safer Maternity Care: the National Maternity Safety Strategy (2017).
Since 2010, improvements have been made in the outcomes for maternity (NHS 2019). However, WY&H Local Maternity System aims to drive improvement even further for women, their families and the staff involved in maternity care.
Working together as one system, the focus of our work is to:
- reduce stillbirth and improve bereavement care
- reduce preterm births and poor outcomes associated with preterm births
- improve maternal emergency care
- share learning between organisations to learn from each other
- develop guidelines and pathways to provide seamless care and reduce variation across the LMS
- ensure the voices of women and families is embedded in our work through our Maternity Voices Partnerships
Further information and updates on current progress around safer maternity care can be found in our action plan.