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Midwifery education

Midwives' perspectives on personalised maternity care in the UK

02 November 2024
Research
02 November 2024
Volume 32 · Issue 11

Abstract

Background/Aims

Personalised care is associated with high-quality, safe maternity care. Limited evidence exists on midwives' perception of personalised care and potential barriers and facilitators associated with implementing it in practice. The aim of this study was to explore midwives' perspectives of personalised care.

Methods

An online mixed-methods survey was conducted exploring the perspectives of 46 NHS midwives. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Results

Assessing individual needs was perceived as a key facilitator and time restrictions were considered a significant barrier to providing personalised care in practice.

Conclusions

Providing personalised care is associated with increased job satisfaction for midwives, and key barriers include inflexible healthcare systems and limited resources.

Implications for practice

The findings contribute to an understanding of the factors that influence the provision of personalised care and have the potential to inform improvements in maternity services.

Women and birthing people have welcomed the vision set out by the UK government to increase personalisation in maternity services, where they can expect to be treated as an equal partner throughout their maternity journey and receive care based on ‘what matters’ to them (NHS, 2019a, b). Personalised care is outlined in the National Maternity Review (2016) report, ‘Better Births’, as providing care based on the individual needs of women and birthing people. It is associated with improved experiences and safer care, particularly for women and birthing people from minority ethnic communities and those living in deprived areas (National Maternity Review, 2016; Birthrights, 2022; Felker and Knight, 2024). There remains uncertainty around the specifics of what personalised maternity care involves, and a range of concepts appear linked to the aim of achieving personalised care in maternity services. These include informed choice (Winfield and Booker, 2021; Royal College of Midwives, 2022), relational care (Sandall et al, 2016), continuity of carer (Sandall et al, 2024), woman-centred care (Leap, 2009) and person-centred care (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2023).

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Burnout
Job satisfaction
Midwives
Personalised care