Infant Journal
for neonatal and paediatric healthcare professionals

Tommy's charity announces launch of National Centre for Maternity Improvement

Tommy's, The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have formed an alliance to launch The Tommy's National Centre for Maternity Improvement which will be established from 1 September, 2019.

The three-year programme of work is in support of achieving the government's objectives to reduce stillbirth and preterm birth. The centre will be led by Professor Tim Draycott and will involve expert obstetricians, midwives, data analysists and behavioural scientists from leading UK universities and clinical centres. The programme is a collaboration between Tommy's, RCOG, RCM, the NHS, universities and, crucially, women and their families and this alliance represents an ongoing commitment to improving care across the maternity system to make the UK the safest place in the world to give birth.

The Tommy's National Centre for Maternity Improvement will build on existing research and initiatives, and focus on personalised, patient-centred care to create a model of care that can be scaled up nationally. It is hoped that this will help reduce current geographical and socio-demographic inequalities in the quality of care experienced between providers, with a focus on improving outcomes in the poorest performing 80% of UK regions to reach the level of the top 20%.

The centre will also develop a digital tool that will be freely available to every woman and their healthcare providers in the UK. Women will input their own data and be signposted to advice related to their care or lifestyle choices that can improve their chance of a healthy baby. Medical professionals will also contribute clinical data to a woman's record, and these combined data will be used to personalise risk and choices with signposting to advice and more options.