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.
You are welcome to quote from or link to this article in your own work to improve maternity services but please credit AIMS as the source. If you are using a quote please include the following words: “Quote from the AIMS article {URL}. AIMS is a charity that works towards better births for all by campaigning and information sharing, protecting human rights in childbirth and helping maternity service users to know their rights, whatever birth they want, and wherever they want it. See www.aims.org.uk
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