A TWO-year programme has been launched at the Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) to upgrade its maternity services to “outstanding” levels.

The programme - Outstanding Maternity Services - is set to “transform” the care the hospital provides to women and families, the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.

Around 5,500 women give birth in the Women’s and Newborn Unit every year and Chief Nurse Karen Dawber said the project “reflects the dedication of our maternity staff to drive forward changes and improvements in providing the best care to local families and mums-to-be”.

She said: “The programme of work is vast and aims to transform care pathways and improve the experience of our women and their families.

“We also want to transform our facilities into an outstanding provision so our Maternity Unit is equipped with the very best modern-day facilities.

“This is no more than the people of Bradford deserve and will enable our team to better meet the needs of local women.”

The programme involves the recently-announced £3.7 million build of two brand new obstetric theatres attached to the labour ward.

Work started on that project last month and the “state-of-the-art” operating theatres should be complete and ready for use by summer this year.

Ms Dawber added: “Covid-19 has also had an impact on our services and the way we deliver them, as well as on the people using the services.

“We want to keep those areas that have worked well and improve the way we deliver our services.

“Outstanding services do not just happen; they happen because the people using the service or giving the care are jointly sighted on a vision that is so special it becomes simply the right thing to do.”

Alison Powell, Midwifery Lead for the OMS programme, said: “We are working directly with the Bradford District and Craven Maternity Voices Partnership to ensure improvements are co-designed and fully informed by service user input.

“We want to make a commitment to our women and babies that, to meet their needs now and in the future, this programme will review the way we do things to ensure they are central to everything we do and how we do them.

“We will also make a commitment to our current and future workforce that Bradford’s Women’s and Newborn Unit is and will be somewhere where creativity, imagination and innovation flourish, where people are actively encouraged to participate in research and continual improvement.”

Bradford Teaching Hospitals said the programme will involve all of its 450 Maternity Unit staff.

The vision for the project was developed last year after consultation and there are five areas of work which are already underway: investing in the Trust’s workforce; ensuring buildings are fit for the future; the women’s journey and clinical excellence; moving to digital working and linking learning and quality through information.

The Trust said it wants to ensure there is consistency in the way data is recorded and extracted so this can inform and support a culture of “continual improvement, transformation, and learning”.

The BRI is to see more than £9 million of improvements as part of a wider plan to ensure “significant improvements” to services at the hospital.

Mark Holloway, Director of Estates and Facilities, said the schemes “will enhance the hospital environment for our patients and staff alike”.

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