What is "safety" in maternity care and who should determine what "safe" looks like? In recent months, Birthrights has been working hard to promote a rights-based vision of safety in maternity services that flows from an individual's needs and protects the most vulnerable in society.

In the coming months, midwives and doctors at NHS Trusts around the country will be taking our Creating a Safe Maternity Culture course and we've been delighted at the positive response to our human rights in childbirth training videos. However, it is clear from the women and healthcare professionals we work with and advise that there is still work to be done to ensure that frontline practice, as well as local and national policy, don't fall in to the trap of setting women and their decisions in opposition to safety.

The 2016 Better Births report set out a model for transforming maternity services in England that prioritised safer, more personalised care, care that is wrapped around a women and is tailored to her individual needs. Since then we've been sitting on the Maternity Transformation Stakeholder Council to ensure that this co-dependent vision of safety and personalisation is brought to life.  

There are plenty of reminders of how important this work is. From the Nursing and Midwifery Council's recent irresponsible decision on independent midwifery, to a Department of Health statement that: "The Government supports choice in maternity services, but this has to be a safe choice", to NHS England guidance urging midwives to to support women "to make safe, informed choices", the focus of safety discussions is still too-often on compliance from women rather than responding to their needs, particularly if those needs are complex. 

There are also lots of opportunities for positive change that we have been delighted to engage with over the past months. Below you will read more about our contributions to the guidance for the new A-EQUIP model of supervision of midwives, which makes it clear that all midwives must work with women to, "safeguard their rights, flowing from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act 1998, to be treated with dignity, respect and as autonomous individuals from whom informed consent is required for any intervention undertaken."

You'll also read about the work we've been doing delivering online and in-person learning and resources on human rights in childbirth, the advice and help we give when services aren't rights-respecting, the strategic legal interventions we've been involved with, the research we're undertaking and the behind-the-scenes policy work we are engaging in to ensure that women's rights are at the heart of developing a truly safe, quality maternity service for all women. 

I thank all of our supporters and volunteers for ensuring that our small organisation continues to give women a loud voice in maternity care. You can read more about why we need your support and how to become a donor here. 

Rebecca Schiller, chief executive

A-EQUIP and new RCM I-learn module

At the end of March, England waved goodbye to statutory supervision of midwives and started on the transition to the A-EQUIP model (arrangements differ slightly in Scotland, Wales and NI). The model brings new emphasis on all midwives being responsible for reflecting on their own practice, quality improvement and planning personalised care for women. Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMAs) will support midwives to develop the skills needed.

Birthrights is keen to ensure that healthcare professionals are aware of their obligations to listen to women and do their best to facilitate their decisions under A-EQUIP. We were pleased to be able to contribute to the new guidance published by NHS England on the model and are proud that the guidance now has a strong emphasis on supporting autonomy, firmly grounded in the human rights legal framework. You can read the guidance in full here. 

Birthrights and the Royal College of Midwives have just launched a new online learning module on human rights and advocating for women for that has been designed to make an important contribution to helping midwives prepare for this role.



Birthrights training

2017 looks to be our busiest year yet with a significant increase in our human rights training opportunities for healthcare professionals. A number of Trusts have contracted with us to deliver our "Creating a Safe Maternity Culture course" using the funding they have received from the Maternity Safety Training Fund. In addition, we are running a number of our half day and full day Human Rights in Maternity Courses to empower all healthcare professionals to advocate for women. If you would like to know more about the training we offer or book some for your Trust, please contact us at info@birthrights.org.uk


Videos now available

We now have four videos on our website exploring common human rights issues in maternity care: What is consent? Bullied into Treatment, Choice of Place of Birth and Elective Caesarean. Do take a look, share with your colleagues and on social media!

IMUK starts legal challenge

"As I made clear in my January letter to its chief executive Jackie Smith, we do not believe that the actions of the NMC have been those of a responsible regulator. There have already been very damaging consequences of this incorrect decision. The NMC has jeopardised the safety of hundreds of women and babies by effectively severing each woman’s access to continuity in her midwifery care. Faced with the absence of any comparable NHS service in their area, or following previous traumatic experiences with local maternity services, I know of a number of women who now believe that their only choice is to give birth without any medical assistance."

Forced caesareans and the Court of Protection

On 8th March, Birthrights marked International Women's Day by holding a very well attended seminar on the subject of forced caesarean cases in the Court of Protection. The diverse and distinguished panel of women with lived experience, lawyers, doctors and midwives, ably chaired by Mrs Justice Parker, entered into a lively debate with the audience, about why these cases went to a Court in the first place, whether judges heard a balanced set of viewpoints when they did and what evidence there was about the long term impact on women. Birthrights is intending to produce a set of recommendations very shortly.


Policing Pregnancy - 18th May 2017

Following the success of the Policing Pregnancy conference last April, Birthrights in collaboration with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies (CPCS), and Engaging Sociology at CCCU, will be hosting the 2nd Policing Pregnancy conference on the 18th May at Canterbury Christ Church University.

The full programme and details of how to book tickets can be found here