This project was completed in February 2008.
In brief
- The King’s Fund set up an independent inquiry in late 2006 to find out what can be done to make maternity care safer. The focus was on the safety of mothers and babies during birth. The panel members were selected for their expertise in areas related to health care and patient safety.
- In 2008, it published the findings. Safe Births: Everybody's business makes practical recommendations in seven key areas: teamworking, staffing, training, guidance and information relevant to safety, the role of trust boards, and the role of national bodies concerned with safety and maternity services.
- Findings were based on oral and written submissions from a broad range of relevant organisations and individuals and on visits to selected maternity units in England, as well as on the published data on safety in general and on safety in maternity services in particular.
- The inquiry team’s main message is that ensuring safe maternity care is everybody’s business. Each and every member of the maternity team – not just midwives, doctors and maternity support workers but also housekeepers, security staff, porters and ward clerks – must play their part. Management teams, trust boards and policy-makers need to make sure that systems and processes are in place to allow all members of the maternity team to provide care that’s as safe as it can be.
Safer Births
Safer Births is a development project that follows on from the recommendations from this Inquiry. It aims to improve the safety of maternity services by supporting frontline professionals.
More on Safer Births