Healthcare professionals from across the East Midlands came together last month for the Perinatal Deterioration Summit, a collaborative event designed to support organisations in improving the recognition and management of deterioration in pregnant and postnatal women, while strengthening patient safety across maternity services.
Deterioration is a term that covers a worsening of a patient’s physical or mental health condition. Recognising deterioration early and taking steps to escalate a patient’s care or respond quickly saves lives.
The event brought together clinicians, quality improvement leaders, patient safety specialists and programme leads to share learning, explore challenges and develop practical plans for implementing improvement initiatives within their organisations.
In this blog, HIEM, Head of Programme Delivery (Patient Safety and Improvement), Kay Khan reflects on the day, what we learned and next steps.
A collaborative approach to patient safety
Nearly 60 healthcare professionals from across the East Midlands came together at the Perinatal Deterioration Summit to explore how collaboration, shared learning and coordinated improvement efforts can help deliver safer care for women and babies.
Hosted by Health Innovation East Midlands (HIEM), the event brought together colleagues from eight hospital trusts and a wide range of professional backgrounds to support the implementation of three important national patient safety programmes:
- Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme (MatNeoSIP)
supports NHS organisations to improve the safety and quality of maternity and neonatal care. Through evidence-based improvement methodology, the programme helps teams reduce harm and drive better outcomes for mothers and babies.
- Managing Deterioration Safety Improvement Programme
focuses on improving the identification, escalation and response to patient deterioration. By supporting healthcare teams to recognise early warning signs and act promptly, the programme aims to prevent avoidable harm and improve patient outcomes.
- Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC)
designed to support maternity services in reducing the incidence of avoidable brain injury during labour and birth. Through education, quality improvement and multidisciplinary collaboration, the programme helps organisations strengthen systems and processes that contribute to safer care.
Together, these programmes form part of the national Patient Safety Improvement Programmes for 2026-27, which aim to strengthen the prevention, identification, escalation and response to physical deterioration in newborn babies and their birthing parent.
By bringing these programmes together, the summit provided a unique opportunity for participants to understand how improvement work across different areas can align to create a more joined-up approach to managing perinatal deterioration.
Sharing learning and building action plans
Although each programme has its own specific focus, there is significant overlap in the patient pathways, teams and clinical environments they support.
By bringing these programmes together in a single event, delegates from maternity teams, neonatal services, patient safety specialists, digital teams, governance professionals and operational leaders were able to gain a clearer understanding of how the initiatives complement one another and how implementation can be aligned to maximise benefits for patients and staff.
The introduction of Martha's Rule into additional areas of hospital care, including maternity services and emergency departments, further reinforces the need for organisations to work collaboratively across traditional service boundaries.
Learning from early adopters
Throughout the day, attendees heard updates on national priorities, programme objectives and emerging best practice from organisations already making progress with implementation.
Trusts that had begun their improvement journeys shared practical learning, challenges and successes, providing valuable insights for colleagues who are at earlier stages of adoption. These real-world examples helped delegates understand how the programmes can be successfully embedded within local services and demonstrated the positive impact of collaborative improvement approaches.
The event also provided an opportunity to showcase the tools, resources and support available through Health Innovation East Midlands, helping trusts plan their next steps with confidence.
Throughout the day, delegates explored current challenges, shared experiences from their organisations and discussed practical approaches to implementing change.
Interactive sessions encouraged attendees to work collaboratively, capturing ideas and insights through facilitated discussions and improvement planning activities. The summit also created valuable opportunities for networking, allowing participants to build connections with colleagues facing similar challenges and to learn from examples of good practice from across the region.
Continuing the momentum
One of the strongest themes to emerge from the event was a desire to maintain the collaboration established during the summit. Participants expressed interest in meeting again to share progress, discuss challenges and continue learning from one another as improvement work develops locally.
To support this ongoing collaboration, a follow-up Perinatal Deterioration Summit is planned for February 2027, providing a further opportunity for teams to reconnect and showcase progress made across the region.
Over the coming months, HIEM programme leads will continue to work closely with local project teams.
Working together for better outcomes
The Perinatal Deterioration Summit highlighted the power of collaboration in driving safer care. By bringing together expertise from maternity, neonatal and deterioration improvement programmes, the event reinforced a shared commitment to improving the recognition and management of deterioration in the perinatal period.
For more information about the programmes or to discuss support available for your organisation, please contact us