Together with our academic and charitable partners, we have established the Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement to reduce the number of babies born prematurely or stillborn each year in the UK.
Our Centre is led jointly by the RCOG and the RCM who together represent the entirety of the UK maternity workforce.
More than 90 per cent of all babies born in the UK every year are born safely and to term (after 37 weeks). However, around 2,900 babies (0.4 percent) are tragically stillborn every year and nearly 60,000 (8 percent) are born prematurely. Of those babies born early, some may not survive and others may face a lifetime of health issues.
Stillbirth and premature birth rates vary widely (up to plus or minus 20%) across the UK. This difference is not explained by a lack of research recommendations, but because there is variation in local adoption and implementation of existing guidelines and good clinical practice. There is a known variation in care.
The Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement has developed an online clinical decision support tool, a web application shared by maternity care professionals and women and pregnant people, to help improve maternity care by reducing variation in care. We aim to raise the standards of the poorest performing 80% of hospitals to match that of the top performing 20%.
See our Centre Clinical Director, Prof Basky Thilaganathan in conversation with former Tommy’s CEO, Jane Brewin:
"We believe that this clinical decision tool, through its intelligent risk assessment process and personalisation of care recommendations for each woman, could help prevent up to 600 stillbirths and 12,000 premature births in the UK every year."
Professor Basky Thilaganathan, Clinical Director of the Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement
“At Tommy’s we believe that everyone should have equitable access to good maternity care, no matter who they are or where they are based. By supporting healthcare professionals provide the right care at the right time during pregnancy, we hope this important new technology will help meet our goal of making the UK the safest place to give birth.”
Kath Abrahams, CEO Tommy’s Charity
For more information, please contact tommyscentre@rcog.org.uk
