Project
Building on the work of previous years, the patient safety collaboratives are being commissioned by the National Patient Safety Team to support maternity and neonatal safety in preterm optimisation, recognition and management of deterioration and providing perinatal teams with culture and leadership support.
Preterm Optimisation and Deterioration Programme
In alignment with the national ambitions outlined in Better Births and Safer Maternity Care, this programme is committed to significantly improving outcomes for mothers and babies across England. By 2025, it aims to halve the rates of maternal and neonatal deaths, stillbirths, and brain injuries occurring during or shortly after birth, and to reduce the national preterm birth rate from 8% to 6%.
At its core, the programme seeks to enhance the safety, consistency, and quality of maternal and neonatal care. It focuses on reducing unwarranted variation and ensuring that every woman, baby, and family receives a high-quality healthcare experience, regardless of location or circumstances.
Our programme objectives are to:
Avoiding Brain Injuries in Childbirth (ABC) Programme
It is well-evidenced that avoidable intrapartum brain injury can have devastating consequences for babies and their families, along with lifetime impacts for health and care services. The Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) programme has its origins in a call for action by the Treasury in 2018 on the costs of litigation associated with avoidable brain injury.
Developed and piloted over three phases spanning 2021-2025, the ABC improvement programme was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care. It has been led by the ABC Collaboration, comprising the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute). The pilot of ABC3 concluded on 30 April 2025.
Our programme objectives are to:
Through national implementation we will seek to improve clinical practice, communication and care for women and families, resulting in better outcomes and experiences. The project will help maternity staff improve clinical practice of two significant contributors to avoidable brain injury in childbirth:
Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme (PCLP)
The PCLP is designed to empower perinatal leaders to drive meaningful change by fostering a culture rooted in compassion, inclusivity, and continuous improvement. It recognises that a positive safety culture is essential to delivering high-quality care and improving outcomes for women, babies, and families.
By supporting leadership teams to cultivate psychologically safe, collaborative, and supportive environments, the programme aims to embed cultural transformation into everyday practice.
Our programme objectives are to:
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