Cambridge Maternity Services Liaison Committee
We care about your care!
Cambridge Maternity Services Liaison Committee
We care about your care!
The page requested is not currently published.
This is not an error. The page requested does exist but the content has either been deleted or has not yet been published.
In Attendance:
Sue Allen-Mills (Chair); Jo Brown; Callie Copeman-Bryant; Angela D’Amore; Maddie McMahon; Ben Myer (East of England Ambulance Trust); Jo Sharman; Sharon Shipp; Heather Sturman; Jo Watt; Annie West; Kate Wilson
Apologies were received from: Amanda Cahn; Cheryl France; Julie Gardiner; Boo Newns; Sarah Ockwell-Smith; Sue Prytherch; Shahida Trayling
Agreed as a true record.
Apologies Amanda Cahn should have been included.
3.3 The doula ‘meet and greet’ session for midwives on February 2 went well and was well received. It was agreed that it should be repeated.
3.7 AD’A reported that her investigations suggested that what WK had referred to in a previous meeting as monthly reviews in children’s services were the collection of patient stories, which is done in Addenbrooke’s and in neonatal services. SS reported that this has also been done in maternity services, with questions being asked about the environment and staff.
4(i) SA-M is still to review the membership of those members who have not attended a meeting for a long time
4(ii) SA-M was able to register on-line for access to the Cochrane Database.
5 SA-M has agreed with NC to reprint 7500 publicity leaflets, 6000 to be included in postnatal discharge packs and 1500 for ad hoc use, and another 100 posters. This is awaiting budgetary approval.
Work on suggesting updates to the Rosie website is on-going.
SA-M has been in touch with Kate Evans to ask for a mention of the MSLC to be included in the reprint of the ‘Going home with your baby’ booklet.
6 CP was not present to provide an update on the action points related to the management of breech presentation.
MMcM is still to investigate statistics on the use of upright position for vaginal breech births in London hospitals.
9 AD’A has looked into the paperwork provided for blood tests prior to donating breastmilk and found it to be comprehensive, so it is assumed that the case of an incomplete form reported by BN at the last meeting was an aberration.
The committee welcomed Ben Myer, Clinical Operations Manager for the East of England Ambulance Trust, Cambridgeshire SW, to discuss the issue of obstetric training for paramedics.
Paramedic training is provided at the University of East Anglia, and includes two days on birth, which are run by midwives. Paramedics will not necessarily have seen a birth before they attend their first one. Ben himself recommends that students spend some time on a delivery unit, though this is voluntary. There is no provision for paramedics to be updated once they have qualified.
Providing obstetric care constitutes a very small part of a paramedic’s workload.
Ben addressed some concerns that had been raised by user reps:
(i) that in cases where there’s no life-threatening emergency, and an ambulance has been called because a midwife is not likely to be able to reach the mother before the birth, paramedics going in with emergency equipment, and turning on lights, can disturb the birth process. Ben explained that in the absence of information to the contrary, paramedics will assume that there is an emergency of some kind. It was acknowledged and accepted that paramedics have a duty of care, but the potential for their actions to have an impact on the birth and the birthing experience was also pointed out. There was some discussion as to how information about the nature of the situation that they had been called to could be conveyed to paramedics in advance, particularly when there is a doula present, so that they can respond accordingly. Ben offered to send an e-mail to the Ambulance Trust regionally to inform paramedics about doulas, and how they can serve as a source of information, and to encourage paramedics to be aware of the nature of the birthing environment. It was pointed out that when a couple is planning a homebirth without a doula, community midwives should prepare them for calling 999 should they need to. SA-M to check with JG that this is happening.
ACTION: SA-M
(ii) the cord being cut too quickly. Ben confirmed that as long as there was no clinical need for the cord to be cut immediately, paramedics are currently trained to wait till it has stopped pulsating before cutting it.
(iii) the baby being dried and dressed immediately, without skin to skin contact being allowed. Ben said that paramedics were trained to encourage skin to skin.
MMcM asked if there was any facility for parents to give feedback on ambulance services. Ben said that they could contact PALS.
MMcM expressed concern that paramedics can seem out of date on obstetric practices, and there was general concern about paramedics not being regularly updated. SA-M asked whether there were any links between the Hospitals Trust and the Ambulance Trust that would enable paramedics to keep up to date, but currently there are not.
SA-M thanked Ben for giving his time to attend the meeting.
SA-M introduced this item as kite-flying. It arose from further discussion between user members after the last meeting about the way in which risk was presented to and discussed with women and their partners so that they can make an informed choice about their care, given that the perception of risk is individual.
SA-M had come across a paper in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health about the presentation of risk, which advocated the use of Paling Palettes, a tool that presents information about risk in a visual format. A sample was tabled at the meeting (and is available on-line at http://riskcomm.com/images/Palette1Downs.pdf). She had shown this to various users, who had all said that they thought it would be helpful. In addition to being helpful for visual learners, the Palettes also help to promote joint decision-making between clinicians and patients.
It was agreed to pursue the possibility of trialling the use of the Palettes, initially in the area of antenatal screening. SA-M to contact Sheila Reed about this.
ACTION: SA-M
A set of drawings for the new build was circulated. The project is currently out to tender. It is hoped that construction will start in August.
The restriction to one birth partner/visitor is still in place.
The unit was closed twice last month.
Sara Ward is now permanently closed. This is for cost-saving reasons (the Hospitals Trust needs to make savings of £40m). Mothers with babies needing special care are being cared for on Lady Mary, all in the same bay as far as possible. This is putting pressure on beds, and mothers with well babies are being encouraged to go home as soon as possible. Around 30 women a month are now being discharged directly from the DU. An attempt is being made to free up antenatal beds on Lady Mary by providing day treatment to patients with hyperemesis.
13 April, 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm
Addenbrookes Treatment Centre 4
For various reasons, it is not going to be possible for any of the agenda topics proposed for this year to be covered at the next meeting. It was therefore agreed to invite Anna Shasha, the new Head of Midwifery, to come and talk about her plans, and Jo Watt to give an update on the progress of the Baby Friendly accreditation.
powered by Typomania
