Found: That includes maternity services and the setting up of women’s health hubs in every ICB area by the

Found: It advises that smoking cessation services should be embedded within maternity services.

Found: There were 23 of them in the maternity services dataset.

Found: few mothers or babies transferred outside our network, because we have a good relationship in our maternity

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing the National Maternity Review’s report Better Births, published on 22 February 2016.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Better Births report sets out a vision for maternity services across England to become safer and more personalised. NHS England subsequently published their Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services, which sets out how maternity and neonatal care will be made safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. The plan encompasses recommendations from several reports, including the National Maternity Review’s Better Births report.

Many initiatives are being delivered through the plan to implement the vision from Better Births, including continuity of carer, rolling out an updated version of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle to reduce stillbirth, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth, and Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems producing Equity and Equality Action Plans to tackle disparities in the outcomes and experiences of maternity care at a local level.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will make an estimate of the number of women who have experienced medical complexities associated with pregnancy when accessing maternity care services in (a) north and (b) central London in each of the last five years.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department does not hold this information in the format requested. The North Central London Start Well programme has considered changing population demographics, including the birth rates of the populations living in North Central London and the complexity of births. This information is available at the following link:

https://nclhealthandcare.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NCL_Start-Well-Case-for-Change_FINAL_ALT-TEXT.pdf

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of indices of deprivation of women who access maternity services at the Royal Free Hospital.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Population health trends in North Central London (NCL), including historic birth rates and the future projected population size, have informed proposals to improve maternity and neonatal services included in the NCL Integrated Care System’s (ICS) Start Well programme.

Modelling to inform the proposals included in the NCL Start Well programme has considered changing population demographics. This has included looking at changes to the size and birth rate of the populations living in NCL, as well as the complexity of births, which has included looking at factors such as caesarean rates.

The Department, along with NHS England, recognises that the foundations of lifelong health are built during pregnancy, at birth, and in childhood. This is why the NCL ICS’s Start Well programme has taken a population health approach, looking at data relating to ethnicity and deprivation, and impact on maternity outcomes across all units in NCL, including the Royal Free Hospital.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies on preventing maternal deaths of MBRRACE-UK's report entitled Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care, published in October 2023.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department is committed to reducing maternal mortality and improving outcomes for mothers and is working to fully understand why a recent increase in the maternal death rate has been reported, including considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several initiatives have already been introduced across the National Health Service to improve maternity safety as part of NHS England’s Three Year Delivery Plan for maternity and neonatal services, which is backed by £186 million a year from April.

Initiatives include the establishment of 14 maternal medicine networks which provide pregnant women who have medical conditions with specialist advice and support, and the publishing of local Equity and Equality Action Plans, which are tailored to meet the needs of that area. The Department also expects all 42 integrated care systems to have a Maternal Mental Health Service operational by the end of March 2024, which provide psychological therapy for women experiencing mental health difficulties related to their maternity experience.

On top of this, as announced at Spring Budget, the Government and NHS England are investing almost £35 million from 2024/25 to 2026/27 to further improve maternity safety across England, with specialist training for staff, additional numbers of midwives and support to ensure maternity services listen to and act on women’s experiences to improve care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff are employed at the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:

Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual cost to the public purse is of the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:

Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many births were delivered at the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre in each of the last five years.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:

Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.

I would like the Government to fund epilepsy training for all healthcare staff in Maternity services, A&E and hospitals, to try and improve care and support for people with Epilepsy.

Found: I would like the Government to fund epilepsy training for all healthcare staff in Maternity services,

Found: development checks are offered at intervals that are consistent with national guid elines and policy 6 Maternity

Found: at intervals that are consistent with national guidelines and policy agreed with the NHS C B 6 Maternity

Found: Upgrading maternity services at Raigmore Hospital: FOI release

Found: workload across sectors, where services are delivered across acute and primary care services e.g. maternity