Developing a Birth Reflection Service, on pathway to the psychological treatment of birth trauma

What are you representing today (lived experience, a particular organisation or profession etc? It may be more than one):

Service Lead for Obstetrics and Gynaecology Health Psychology in Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust

 

Title of your narrative:

Developing a Birth Reflection Service, on pathway to the psychological treatment of birth trauma

 

Please describe a relationship, service intervention, program implementation, policy, or other that you initiated or know about that would be considered trauma-informed:

Service development components:

• Establishing a multidisciplinary Core Group to develop a psychologically informed Birth Reflection Pathway
• Comprehensive literature search on: birth trauma, perinatal patient experience
• Service scope of other birth reflection/talking delivery interventions and services
• Bespoke training package for Birth trauma and perinatal PTSD
• Development of a midwifery lead Birth Reflection clinic

 

What was the outcome?  

1. Over 150 midwives have been trained in the assessment and detection of perinatal PSD
2. Training now being scaled up into Special care baby unit
3. Control group training with 30 external midwives
4. Birth Reflection Service fully operational
5. Winner of 2018 Compassionate Care category in HSJ awards

 

What supported the positive outcome? (Systemic supports? Organizational supports? Interpersonal supports?):

• The evidence base
• Whole team engagement
• Focus groups with women who delivered in our hospitals
• Support from Patient Experience Team
• Real Time Feedback systems
• Positive training outcomes

In what way has your example changed you, your practice, or your goals:

It hasn’t changed our goals, but they have been positively reinforced

 

Tell us more about what motivated you to bring this example to discuss:

• Seeing women with trauma presentations post natally and in subsequent pregnancies
• Multiple gynaecology (painful sex) referrals being formulated with origins in difficult birth experiences
• Successful treatment outcomes for trauma
• A desire for women to have the best birthing experience possible for them
• Positive staff experience
• Increasing awareness of Type 1 and Type 2 trauma in an obstetric and gynaecological setting.

 

Whose needs are met in the example that you outline:

• Patient needs
• Partner needs
• A baby/sibling having a mother with positive psychological health
• The obstetrics Team

 

Was there any one person or factor that was central to the success of your example and why:

No, multiple factors

 

What can you or others do to spread this good practice to colleagues and services:

• Scaling up training internally
• Bespoke external training
• HSJ award gives us spread
• Writing up the project (when there is time!)
• LMS representation and the wider network