Safety recommendation
HSIB recommends that NHS England and NHS Improvement leads work to develop a process to ensure consistency and clarity across national maternity clinical guidance.
Response:
"NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) welcome this report and will work closely with relevant stakeholders to consider how best to implement the recommendations.
"We do not publish national clinical guidance, but we will work with key stakeholders to further help align clinical guidance and improve consistency and clarity.
"We will ascertain and collate evidence around the risks and benefits of remote consultations and share with the relevant organisations to help inform the development of future guidance on remote consultations.
"In reference to safety recommendation R/2021/146, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) are currently considering a best practice guide for maternity triage. In the meantime, we will review and describe best practice in telephone triage and work with local maternity systems to develop recommended minimum operating standards for pre-assessment maternity telephone triage services.
"We will review national guidance for interpretation services for maternity users and work with NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) to incorporate into the procurement framework a minimum operating standard for interpretation services in maternity care which will include a communication risk assessment.
"In collaboration with national maternity partner organisations, we have developed ‘The Core Competency Framework’, which contains neonatal life support as a core module. We will review the minimum requirements for this module to include the need for Trusts to develop their own local framework to identify and mitigate potential risks in relation to neonatal resuscitation."
Action: NHSE/I Maternity Transformation Programme (MTP) Insight Oversight Group will develop a ‘live’ national registry of published recommendations to help ensure consistency across national maternity clinical guidance. By: June 2022.
Action: NHSE/I will use the MTP Insight Oversight group, including representatives from RCOG, RCM and NICE, to further help align clinical guidance and improve consistency and clarity. By: August 2022. NHSE/I Insight Oversight Group, working with RCOG, RCM, NICE.
Response received on 14 December 2021.