We have improved the way we triage women and birthing people during pregnancy: this is what you need to know
Women and birthing people who require urgent or emergency support during pregnancy will now be assessed and triaged using a best practice tool to improve patient safety and experience.
Maternity teams at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) are now using Birmingham Symptom Specific Obstetric Triage System (BSOTS) which is nationally recognised as the best and safest way to triage and assess people, within 15 minutes, which helps to prioritise those who are seriously unwell, using a similar model to A&E.
Previously, everyone with concerns during pregnancy would have been seen in the Pregnancy Assessment Unit (PAU) at Royal Derby Hospital, or the Maternity Assessment Unit (MAU) at Queen's Hospital Burton, for both emergency and planned hospital appointments. These areas have now been renamed and separated so at both hospitals, there is a Maternity Triage area, for unplanned and emergency assessments, and a Maternity Day Case area for planned appointments.
What has changed?
- Planned and emergency care has been separated which means patients who have a pre-arranged appointment will be treated in the Day Case area by a dedicated team, which will reduce delays as often this group of patients would be required to wait while teams prioritised emergency admissions.
- Maternity services now care for pregnancy related concerns from 16 weeks of pregnancy, through to 6 weeks postnatally
- If women and birthing people have concerns during pregnancy they are advised to call our dedicated triage phoneline which is managed by an experienced triage midwife who will review concerns, and provide advice on the best service, which may involve coming into hospital for a physical assessment.
- To help make the journey to triage as simple as possible, women and birthing people who require support but do not speak English or find telephone communication difficult will have open access to attend the unit without having to call first, to reduce any communication barriers. Our community midwives will share this information with service users at their booking appointment. Translation services are provided inside the hospitals.
The new triage approach has been in place since November and in January, our midwives triaged over 3,500 calls from pregnant people with over 1,000 attending hospital through triage.
Sarah Noble, Director of Midwifery, said the changes will have many benefits for those who require urgent or emergency care during pregnancy.
She said: "Colleagues have worked really hard to make these improvements to our Maternity Triage service as part of our ongoing commitment to improve the quality of care we provide to all women, birthing people and babies.
"Each month we care for an average of 1,100 pregnant people through our triage pathway, some of them returning multiple times for care, and these changes will allow us to keep in line with national guidance to ensure the best care possible for those on their pregnancy journey.
"We understand that any concerns about your unborn baby during pregnancy are likely to cause some anxiety and we hope that this new way of assessing pregnant people will make the experience simpler for our patients during what can be a worrying time."
If you have a concern relating to pregnancy, such as a change in fetal movements, suspected labour, pains, bleeding or feeling unwell, call the Maternity Triage number (01332 785796). All old numbers for PAU and MAU still work and have been diverted to this number.
More information about how to access urgent or emergency support during pregnancy is available on our public website > including information about what happens when you call Maternity Triage, and what you can expect if you are asked to attend a hospital for a face-to-face assessment.
Further information about out maternity and neonatal improvement programme is available here >