MTP Bulletin No99 23 December 2021

Maternity Transformation Programme
Bulletin No.99: 23rd December 2021

Maternity News
For a copy of the last MTP Bulletin and a listing for the previous 20 MTP Bulletins please use this index link

JCVI issues new advice on COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that pregnant women are more at risk of severe COVID-19 disease. They are reminding pregnant women to have their COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible. They should not delay vaccination until after they have given birth. This is to protect them and their babies. In the UK, over 100,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated, mainly with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and they have a good safety profile.

It is more important than ever that all healthcare workers, including GPs, Midwives, Obstetricians, Pharmacists and others continue to build vaccine confidence and make every contact count across both the flu and COVID-19 vaccination programmes.

Below are links to some resources that you might find useful when talking to women about vaccination:
Make every contact count – pregnancy Covid-19 vaccination infographic | UKOSS | NPEU (ox.ac.uk)
COVID-19 vaccination: women of childbearing age, currently pregnant or breastfeeding - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Updated guidance on NHS staff, student and volunteer self-isolation and return to work following COVID-19 contact

On 16th December, the UK Health Security Agency issued updated guidance for those working or volunteering within the NHS who have had COVID-19 contact or infection.
The full letter can be found here:
C1500-letter-updated-uk-hsa-guidance-nhs-staff-student-volunteer-self-isolation-return-to-work-following-covid.pdf (england.nhs.uk)
Please note that since this guidance was published, the self-isolation advice has been updated. The latest guidance can be found here:
Stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Tommy's and Sands Maternity Care Survey

Tommy’s and Sands are working as part of a Maternity Consortium to reduce health inequalities in maternity and have launched a survey to understand pregnant women and birthing people’s experiences of accessing maternity services and any barriers they may have faced in getting the care they’re entitled to.
Please complete the survey if you’re currently pregnant or have been pregnant since January 2019 or if you’re a healthcare professional/someone who has direct contact with pregnant women and birthing people and can fill this survey out with them.

A Christmas Thank You from the MTP Team

The Maternity Transformation Programme team would like to wish a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all those working in Maternity Services. Thank you for all your hard work supporting pregnant women and families throughout the year. We hope you all have the opportunity to relax and celebrate with loved ones over the festive season.

Dates for your diary

£7.6 million Starting Well Fund Learning Event
13th Jan 09.00 - 13.30
This is the first Starting Well Fund Learning Event and includes 6 voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations presenting on their work and learning to date. LMS and Regional colleagues are invited to attend to facilitate networking and share learning.
Those presenting are:

First Words Together, Birmingham: Providing a parental engagement programme to support the earlier identification of children who need language support before the age of 2 through building knowledge and confidence in early years’ practitioners and developing skills and confidence of parents/carers so they support their child’s speech, language and communication.
Hestia & Happy Baby Community, Croydon: Providing perinatal support to highly disadvantaged pregnant women who have suffered multiple traumas, survivors of trafficking and asylum seekers through tailoring intensive support from trained perinatal peer support volunteers and doulas.
Flying Start, Luton: Expanding the ‘Flying Start’ antenatal and post-natal support to BAME communities and those families living in areas of highest deprivation.
PSS Growing Together and Everton in the Community, Liverpool: Providing early intervention therapeutic service to strengthen bonds and interdependencies within families and expanding to support families who live complex lives, targeted at fathers.
Koala North West, Wirral: Targeting Wirral’s five most deprived wards and providing tailored practical and emotional support that improves wellbeing, reduces isolation and supports children and caregivers to thrive through Breastfeeding Peer Support and Perinatal volunteers.
Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind, Peterborough: Focusing on coproducing the current perinatal mental health service, support groups and courses with Muslim women, improving relevancy and cultural appeal to Muslim women and including faith-based content, culturally sensitive language and with peer facilitators from the Muslim community.

Please email startingwell@dhsc.gov.uk to request the event login details

NHS Shine A Light on Coproduction Webinars,
18th Jan and 15th Mar 13:00 -14:30

These webinars aim to show what can be achieved when we work together in coproduction with people with lived experience. They will include a presentation from the national Maternity and Neonatal Service User Voice Reps
To book your place, please click one of the links below:

18th January 2022 Booking Link
15th March 2022 Booking Link

We are always looking for successful coproduction stories - if you wish to present please get in touch at england.eoccoproduction@nhs.net.

Health Chat with Professor Lucy Chappell
11th Jan 17:00 - 18:30

Professor Lucy Chappell is the Department of Health & Social Care's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor of Obstetrics and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at Guy's & St Thomas'. She has also taken a leading role in research to develop testing for pre-eclampsia..
Aside from the Covid pandemic there are huge capacity v demand service constraints, workforce issues and galloping technology progress.
As the Chief Scientific Advisor, she will discuss priorities and challenges that need to be addressed.
More information and links to register are here - the talk is a virtual event free to the Institute of Health and Social Care Management. members and £12 for non members.

Aide Memoire – Links to online resources

	National Maternity Dashboard Regional maternity Dashboard	Link Link
	RCOG – Landing Page for all Infection and Pregnancy guidance	Link
	RCM - Landing Page for all covid-19 guidance	Link
	SBLCBv2: Covid-19 information	Link
	Revised Guidance PPE – from PHE	Link
	HEE - Landing Page for Covid-19 training programme for health and care workforce	Link
	NICE - landing page for all COVID guidance and resources	Link
	NHS Resolution – Covid-19 related guidance: including Early Notification and maternity incentive scheme	Link