Perinatal Deterioration

Workstream aims and background 

The perinatal deterioration workstream aims to improve the prevention, identification, escalation, and response (PIER) to maternal and neonatal deterioration through designing and testing the following tools, for frontline maternity staff to improve safety for service users: 

• To support the adoption and spread of the maternity early waring score (MEWS) by all maternity 

• To support the adoption and spread of the neonatal early waring score (NEWTT2) by all maternity and neonatal services  

Background 

• Failure to identify, escalate and respond appropriately is one of the most commonly cited factors in cases of harm in both women and babies’ and specifically, infant brain injury. 

• Miscommunication and a lack of standardised processes for escalating critical information between multi-disciplinary teams means that safety-critical information may be lost, and patient safety compromised. 

• Failures to recognise, manage and communicate risks early in the care pathway, i.e. during antenatal care means that opportunities are lost to optimise the health, outcomes and wellbeing of mother and baby. 

• Care provided to pregnant women and babies occurs in a wide range of clinical settings – variation and challenges in how deterioration is identified and managed particularly in teams where there is a high proportion of new, rotating, locum or agency staff.