London Maternal Deaths Review

NHS London Clinical Networks recently hosted the ‘Maternity Mortality Review Learning Event’ to support learning in order to prevent maternal deaths.

Included in the review for London were 26 women who died in 2015. Of these, 23 were postnatal deaths with 13 being classified as late postnatal – between 42 days and 1 year after birth. 5 deaths were considered to be from direct causes, 19 indirect and 2 were coincidental.

The event, also attended by MAMA Academy CEO Heidi Eldridge, encouraged services to use the SBAR approach for handovers, particularly in complex cases. The SBAR approach stands for ‘Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation’ and is an evidence based approach to improving healthcare communication.

You can find out more about SBAR here.

Read more about the key themes from the reviews here