Maternity & neonatal independent senior advocates: a rapid mixed methods evaluation
As a new senior role is piloted to support women and families in England who have experienced adverse outcomes in their maternity care, NIHR RSET is conducting an independent evaluation of the pilot to understand how useful and effective the role is for those involved.
What is the evaluation?
The Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate (MNISA) role is being piloted in several areas of England. This initiative follows the immediate and essential actions identified in the Ockenden review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
MNISAs support families who have experienced one of the following adverse outcomes:
- The death of a baby before birth (after 24 weeks of pregnancy) or in the days or weeks following birth.
- A baby diagnosed with, or suspected of having, a brain injury.
- The death of the baby’s mother.
- The mother experiencing an unexpected or unplanned removal of womb within 6 weeks of giving birth, or admission to a critical care unit.
The purpose of these independent advocates is to:
- Support and advocate for women, birthing people, and families to ensure their voices are listened to, heard, and their feedback is used to improve maternity and neonatal care.
- Help families navigate the complex systems and processes that follow these incidents.
This rapid evaluation aims to investigate:
- The experiences of women, birthing people, families, national stakeholders, MNISAs, and staff who work with the MNISAs.
- Whether the service is equally accessible to different groups of families.
- How the service is used.
- The perceived and actual impacts of the role.
- The financial costs and funding required for the role.
- How future services can measure their effectiveness.
Our approach
- Qualitative interview and workshops
- Analysis of relevant documents
- Analysis of relevant datasets
When will the evaluation take place?
The evaluation will take place between April 2024 and June 2025.
Study team
- Principal Investigator: Dr Nadia Crellin (Nuffield Trust)
- Principal Investigator: Dr Holly Walton (University College London)
- Chris Sherlaw-Johnson (Nuffield Trust)
- Dr Kevin Herbert (University of Cambridge)
- Dr Efthalia Massou (University of Cambridge)
- Dr Rachel Lawrence (University College London)
- Saheli Gandhi (University College London)
- Professor Steve Morris (University of Cambridge)
- Professor Naomi Fulop (University College London)
- Dr Jenny Shand (University College London)
- Pei Li Ng (University College London)
- Cate Maddison (Public Contributor)
- Sarah Fisher (Public Contributor)
- Raj Mehta (RSET PPIE co-lead, Public Contributor)
- Dr Julie Hartley (Sands)
- Janet Scott (Sands)
- Sonia McLeod (Sands)
- Kate Mulley (Sands)
- Ben Wills (Sands)
For further information
To find out more, contact mnisastudy@ucl.ac.uk
In collaboration with
