Project Title

Northern Ireland Regional Individual MLU Audit, Regional Case Audit of the RQIA Guideline for Admission to Midwife-Led Units in Northern Ireland & Case Audit of Northern Ireland Normal Labour and Birth Care Pathway within Midwife-led Units and Obstetric Units

Research Focus

Funder & Dates

RQIA

November 2019 - January 2021

Principal Investigator or Primary Supervisor (if PhD project)

Dr Maria Healy

Co-Investigators or additional supervisors

Research Fellow(s) or PhD Student

Name & Institution of Collaborators

Dr Patricia Gillen and Dr Julie McCullough, Ulster University

Name of External Partner Organisations

Description of Project:

Aim; Methods; Expected Outcomes

To assist with the continuous quality improvement of midwife-led care provision in Northern Ireland, three clinical audits were undertaken from December 2019 to March 2020.

1) Northern Ireland Regional Individual MLU Audit which sought to collate data relating to service provision and outcomes from individual MLUs for the full calendar years 2015 and 2018. The year 2015, was chosen as the year prior to publication of the RQIA Guideline for Admission to Midwife-Led Units (MLUs) in Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Normal Labour and Birth Care Pathway, while the year 2018 was two years post publication; allowing time for implementation.

2) Regional Case Audit of the RQIA Guideline for Admission to MLUs in Northern Ireland & Northern Ireland Normal Labour and Birth Care Pathway. This audit sought to collate Maternal and Neonatal Clinical Outcomes relating to the implementation of the Guideline and Pathway for a random sample of women who gave birth in all MLUs in NI in 2018.

3) Audit of Normal Labour and Birth Care Pathway within an Obstetric Unit. This was a pilot audit, of a random sample of women (who had a straightforward pregnancy) and gave birth in 2018, within one of two obstetric-led care units, where there is no designated MLU. This audit focused on the maternal and neonatal clinical outcomes relating to the utilisation of the Northern Ireland, Normal Labour and Birth Care Pathway, as the pathway was designed for implementation within any birth setting when caring for a woman with a straightforward pregnancy.

Qualtricsxm (2020) online software package was utilised to build the audit collection tools, which were developed by the project team in collaboration with the MLU Audit Steering Group and MLU Data Collectors.  The audit tools were reviewed by the expert peer reviewer, piloted and amended as required.  The data was derived primarily by a number of data collectors from NIMATS, Birth Registers (MLU and Labour ward birth registers (e.g. if women transferred to labour ward), Badgernet, NICU Records and data already collated locally.

Key findings relating to the implementation of the Guideline for admission to MLUs and the normal labour and birth care pathway are presented along with associated maternal and neonatal outcomes. In addition, agreed recommendations and an action plan are presented.

Add links/URLs to external pages, e.g., study webpage, reports, publications etc.

https://www.rqia.org.uk/RQIA/files/c4/c423e8a1-efb4-4219-8836-92e02599adda.pdf 

Any other relevant information