When the South West Maternity and Children’s Strategic Clinical Network first came together in September 2013 discussions quickly focused on the need for comparable, timely, pertinent and quality assured data to allow benchmarking across the region and to inform the quality improvement work of the Network.
Early work by the Network identified that trusts within the region were collecting large amount of datas but without consistent parameters or definitions. The SCN has brought together acute trusts, CCGs and commissioners working in maternity services to agree 32 clearly defined measures which will make up the South West Maternity Dashboard. A detailed technical appendix has been developed alongside this to provide support to trust staff involved in the collection of the data.
Measures such as still birth and low birth weight rates are provided by acute trusts whilst wider data such as babies breast-fed at 6-8 weeks are sourced from NHS England. Together these measures provide an accurate picture of the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies across the South West, enabling the identification of variation, best practice and areas where improvement work needs to be undertaken.
Routine data collection by 14 acute trusts, starting in October 2014, will occur on a monthly basis, two months in arrears. The dashboard is currently being built, with the final dashboard due to launch on the SWSCN website in Spring 2015.
The Maternity group brings clinicians and managers of acute trusts together with commissioners and Public Health England to develop a data dashboard for maternity services across the South West.
The group meets bi-monthly to develop a data dashboard to enable benchmarking and the identification of variations in outcomes across the region. Examples could include stillbirth rates, prematurity and caesarean section rates. It is expected that the identification of variations will lead to further pieces of work within the network to address them. It is anticipated that the development of a children’s dashboard will follow
Membership
| Name | Representing |
|---|---|
| Alison West | NHS England |
| Amy Warren | South West Strategic Clinical Network |
| Andrea Blotkamp | Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group |
| Ann Remmers | South West Strategic Clinical Network |
| Anna Thompson | Patient Representative / Bluebell Care |
| Belinda Cox | Ashcombe Birth Centre |
| Carol Axon | Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust |
| Cathy Molloy | North Bristol NHS Trust |
| Charlotte Wilton | Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Dawn Morrall (Chair) | Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
| Emma Treloar | University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust |
| Fiona Coker | Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust |
| Gina Augarde | North Bristol NHS Trust |
| Gwen Pearson | Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group |
| Helen Pearce | NHS England |
| Julia Chandler | Royal College of Midwives |
| Julie Brooks | Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group |
| Martha Cox | Patient Representative |
| Nicola Bowtell | Public Health England |
| Richard Harris | NHS England, South West Strategic Clinical Network and Senate |
| Ruth Wellings | Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group |
| Sandra Richards | Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
| Tracey Kay | Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust |
