North West paramedics get "first of its kind" training to better deal with emergency maternity calls

Last year the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) handled more than 24,000 NHS 111 and 999 maternity-related calls combined from across the North West.

This can include providing urgent and emergency care to pregnant women and babies suffering from complex health complications or when these patient groups may require transfers into hospitals.

What’s happened?

To enhance the service previously provided, NWAS has invested in a pre-hospital training package by PROMPT Maternity Foundation Charity.

Part of this is the recruitment of a midwife to lead training, and the purchase of specialised equipment and a range of baby training dummies.

The training is the first of its kind to be delivered within the emergency service.

"Women and their babies at the heart of care”

Catherine McLennan, Director of Women’s Health and Maternity Programme, Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership said: “We are delighted to partner with NWAS and support another great initiative which puts the safety of women and their babies at the heart of care.”

As part of the funding, NWAS has been able to secure its first practice development midwife who has joined the midwifery team for six months to help scale and deliver this training.

It has also enabled the Trust to bid for HEE funding to purchase maternity training equipment, including a suite of preterm baby dummies with ‘real-life,’ accurate and functioning anatomy.

This equipment will enable team training in rare emergencies that can occur during childbirth. It will also ensure that the simulated scenarios embedded within PROMPT training are realistic, engaging, and innovative.