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<p>Our programme of transformation in maternity services will make the National Health
Service one of the best places in the world to give birth by supporting maternity
services to deliver safer more personalised care for mothers and babies.</p><p> </p><p>The
NHS Long Term Plan built on the progress to implement the findings of the national
maternity review set out in ‘Better Births’ in 2016, and commits us to continue to
work with midwives, mothers and their families to implement the ‘continuity of carer’
recommendation. This will mean that, by March 2021, most women will receive continuity
of the person caring for them during pregnancy, during birth and postnatally. Within
this, 75% of women from black and minority ethnic groups and disadvantaged communities
will have continuity of carer by the end of 2023-24, as the evidence suggests that
it particularly improves outcomes for this group.</p><p> </p><p>We also aim to improve
safety by rolling out the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle to every maternity unit
in England in 2019. The Bundle supports services in reducing still births, with a
new focus on preventing pre-term birth. Every trust in England with a maternity and
neonatal service is now part of the National Maternal and Neonatal Health Safety Collaborative,
which is supporting practical improvements to make care safer in all maternity units.
Through this, we are supporting a culture of multidisciplinary team working and learning,
vital for safe, high-quality maternity care. By 2022-23 pre-term birth clinics, Fetal
Medicine Services and Maternal Medicine Networks will be rolled out nationally to
provide access to more specialist expertise to women, babies and the clinicians caring
for them.</p><p> </p><p>To underpin the improvements to care, the NHS Long Term Plan
committed to the digitisation of maternity information so that by 2023-24 all women
will be able to access their maternity notes and information through their smart phones
or other devices.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2018, the Department announced plans to train
more than 3,000 extra midwives over four years. The Government is providing extra
funding for clinical placement costs for 650 students in 2019-20 with planned increases
of 1,000 in the subsequent years. The Maternity Workforce Strategy was published in
March 2019 by Health Education England to outline how the requirements of Better Births
and the ambition to halve stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths by 50% by 2025,
would be met. This will be achieved through retaining experienced and skilled maternity
staff, as well as supporting employers to upskill and develop their workforces through
new roles and new ways of working. This includes rolling out the ‘Maternity Support
Worker’ role with a national competency, education and career framework; and new routes
to becoming a registered midwife, including via apprenticeships.</p>
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