AIMS Campaigns Update, December 2021: Continuity of Carer in England

AIMS supports the Government's ongoing commitment to the implementation of relational care - the Continuity of Carer model of care - in the maternity services across England. A wholesale shift to a Continuity of Carer model of care is key to the Maternity Transformation Programme. Since the publication of Better Births (2016), Continuity of Carer has been agreed national policy in England.

The pandemic has necessarily delayed or even reversed implementation progress in some areas. The maternity staffing crisis and a lack of management capacity are key factors. It is right that case by case decisions on rollout timing are made, taking local factors into account. AIMS agrees that the building blocks approach - as set out in current NHSE/I guidance - is well-judged to underpin a careful and safe rollout.

To pause the full rollout now - as some are calling for - would be to ignore and undermine the brilliant efforts of many committed staff and leaders across the country, who rightly identify Continuity of Carer as an important solution to long-standing problems in the maternity services. We thank them for their work in its implementation.

As we regularly note, AIMS looks forward to a time when we no longer talk much about a continuity of carer model of care, because this will be the standard model of care offered to all women and families: an essential component of a maternity service offer that is personal, equitable and safe. Read our position paper for more information.

AIMS Campaigns Team, December 2021


We hope that this page is of interest, especially to our colleagues in the maternity services improvement community.

The AIMS Campaigns Team relies on Volunteers to carry out its work. If you would like to collaborate with us, are looking for further information about our work, or would like to join our team, please email campaigns@aims.org.uk.

Please consider supporting us by becoming an AIMS member or making a donation. We are a small charity that accepts no commercial sponsorship, in order to preserve our reputation for providing impartial, evidence-based information.

JOIN AIMS

MAKE A DONATION

Buy AIMS a Coffee with Ko-Fi

AIMS supports all maternity service users to navigate the system as it exists, and campaigns for a system which truly meets the needs of all.

Latest Content

Journal

« »

Pregnancy and hearing: Did you know…

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Did you know that one in three pregnant women develop tinnitus compared with one in ten who are not pregnant? Tinnitus is the sensation o…

Read more

Editorial: Hello and welcome. How a…

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Alex Smith Welcome to the December 2024 edition of the AIMS journal. The theme for this quarter considers the experience of care for d…

Read more

Welcome to the Deaf Community – a l…

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By a hearing mother of a deaf baby Sat in the hospital ward, I snapped a cute picture on my phone of my tiny little newborn wearing a hea…

Read more

Events

« »

AIMS Workshop: The Foundation Stone…

Join us for an interactive online AIMS workshop: " The Foundation Stones for Supporting the Physiological Process in Pregnancy and Birth ". Tickets available here: https:…

Read more

MuM-PreDiCT Dissemination event

MuM-PreDiCT is a UK-wide research programme funded by the Medical Research Council. The project focuses on understanding how multiple long-term conditions affect women, b…

Read more

AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Inductio…

Join us for an interactive online AIMS workshop, " Focusing on Induction of Labour ". Tickets available here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/aims/1472572 Nadia Higso…

Read more

Latest Campaigns

« »

AIMS Letter to Wes Streeting

AIMS has written to Wes Streeting MP, welcoming him to the role of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We acknowledge his awareness that maternity services are…

Read more

Involving Service User Voices in Ma…

This is an edited version of an invited talk given by Jo Dagustun, AIMS Campaigns Team, to the International Labour and Birth Research Conference UK, 24 - 26 April 2023.…

Read more

Birth Trauma Inquiry Open Letter in…

We write this letter in response to the recently published APPG Report on Birth Trauma which can be found here The report was extremely moving and we honour the brave con…

Read more