In Scotland, ‘maternity’ usually means whole pregnancy, labour and birth and baby’s first few hours or days.
The NMN delivers it’s programme of work through Facets of Maternity Care, as shown in the diagram below. The Facets also help ensure the work of the NMN remains strategically aligned with The Best Start programme and it’s recommendations.
In keeping with the core values of NHS Scotland and scope of the network, maternity service users (pregnant women, their partners and babies and their families) are at the centre.
The NMN team met (virtually) with senior teams in all 14 Boards between November 2020 and March 2021 and we are delighted to share the summary of themes and findings from the visits. These findings have informed the development of the SPN strategy and work plan.
If you have any questions or would like to be involved in taking forward this work, please contact nss.perinatalnetwork@nhs.scot.
NHS Scotland’s maternity guide is Ready Steady Baby. It’s for everyone looking for information about pregnancy, labour and birth and very early parenthood. There’s a page about how Covid-19 is affecting the way maternity care is delivered just now.
Royal College for Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) has some videos for parents about Covid-19 and pregnancy care.
Since women couldn’t go to antenatal classes in person during the pandemic, the Scottish Government has arranged for Solihull online antenatal courses to be free.
To register for the course, go to In Our Place (using access code ‘Tartan’). Promotional resources can be found here.
Ann Holmes, the Chie
f Midwifery Officer for Scotland at the time, wrote a blog about Using technology to support maternity care – during Covid-19 and beyond.
For example, more appointments are happening using NHS Near Me video calls, Florence (text messages), BadgerNet (electronic maternity records) and some women and families are being supported to monitor their blood pressure and urine at home.