Maternity Standards

Abstract 

Standards are concise, evidence-based statements describing high quality, cost effective care and their use is a pre-requisite in maternity services to enable consistent and equitable care throughout a woman's journey from pre-conception through to parenthood. Ensuring an all-inclusive approach to the maternity pathway requires standards encompassing the organizational framework and clinical care including all the generic elements such as workforce, training and communication. In 2008, the Royal Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Midwives, Anaesthetists and Paediatrics and Child Health collaborated to publish “Standards for Maternity Care”. This document is now being used widely by commissioners to provide the evidence-base for defining the maternity pathway and service specifications, and providers to develop their strategy for improvement of service provision and inform resource management. The suggested audit indicators are a means to test the elements of the pathway and will be developed further to meet the requirements of the national quality agenda.

Keywords: audit indicators, maternity pathway, Quality Indicators, Standards