Project 5: Developing a methodology for the ongoing monitoring of Maternal Medicine Networks

Background

In England, women still die during pregnancy, birth or in the weeks after they have their baby. We think from 2018-2020 around 1 in every 10,000 pregnant women died in this way. Many more women experience very serious illness during this time. Women who already have significant health issues before they become pregnant are more likely to become very ill or die. To help prevent worsening health conditions, or their babies being affected, it is important that they are cared for by specialists who understand both their health problems and how to look after them while they are pregnant. In the last few years, regional Maternal Medicine Networks (MMN) have been introduced to provide this service. The MMNs include teams of specialist doctors, midwives, and others with training and experience of caring for women in pregnancy who also have serious non-pregnancy related health issues.

Aims and objectives

This study will develop a way of measuring if the MMN service is helping to reduce the numbers of women who become very ill or die in pregnancy, birth or the weeks after they have their baby.

Methods

We will work with a group of experts to agree a list of outcomes (such as serious health conditions or deaths) that the MMNs should help to prevent if they are working well. Then we will use information from hospital records in England to find out how many women have these outcomes. We will look at how the numbers of women who have experienced these outcomes has changed over the last 10 years. We will also look to see if the age, ethnicity, or area where someone lives affects these outcomes. It is important that the method that we use to work this out is reliable and can be repeated, because the final part of this project is to recommend how we can use our approach to monitor the impact of the MMNs in the future.

Policy relevance & dissemination

Our findings will provide a way to allow us to check if the MMNs are making a difference, and if the service is reaching the women who need it most. We will publish the results in research journals, in policy briefings, at conferences and in easy to read plain language documents for the public.

Team

Principle Investigator: Claire Carson

Team members: Victoria Soriano, Marian Knight, Sara Kenyon, Julia Sanders, Dimitrios Siassokos,

Contact: claire.carson@npeu.ox.ac.uk