The Independent Maternity and Neonatal Investigation is reviewing the quality and safety of maternity and neonatal care delivered to women, babies and families across England. The aims of the investigation are to:
- Develop and publish one set of national recommendations to drive the improvements needed to ensure high quality and safe maternity and neonatal care across England, reduce inequalities and promote health equity in the delivery of those services, and help bereaved and harmed families to receive justice and accountability in the future
- Ensure that the lived experiences of women, babies and families, including fathers and non-birthing partners, are fully heard and used to inform the development of the national recommendations
- Conduct and publish local investigations of maternity and neonatal services in NHS trusts and use these alongside other sources of data and evidence gathered by the investigation to inform the development of the national recommendations.
Family engagement is essential for the Investigation to deliver these aims. As part of the local Trust investigations, the Investigation will hold family evidence panels to hear from local women and families, including fathers and non-birthing partners.
Family evidence panels
Family evidence panels will be held at a venue in the local area, not at the NHS Trust. Panels will be 1.5 hours in duration and will take place in the morning of Thursday 4th December.
They will be in-person only. Evidence panels will be chaired by Baroness Valerie Amos and/or her expert advisors and attendees will be invited to discuss a range of themes in a small group setting, including:
- Treatment during your care
- Team working
- Raising concerns
- Support after events
The information shared by families will be recorded as evidence, to help the Investigation understand the patterns in experiences of maternity care and to inform the Investigation’s recommendations. Contributions will be anonymised.
Who can attend?
Family evidence panels are for women and families who have received care from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Unfortunately the panels are unable to facilitate babies and children attending. Childcare expenses can be paid, please see below.
The Terms of Reference set out that the Investigation particularly wants to learn from the experiences of women, babies and families who have been harmed during the delivery of maternity and neonatal care to ensure that their voices are heard and the Investigation can learn from these experiences.
Additionally, the Investigation aims to identify the drivers and impact of inequalities faced by particular groups. Therefore, the Investigation further encourages hearing from:
- women, babies and families from Black and Asian backgrounds
- those from deprived groups
- those from other marginalised groups when receiving maternity and neonatal care
Support to attend
interpreter services can can be made available if needed. Please let us know on the Expression of Interest form.
Independent emotional and psychological support will be available to family panel attendees, this can be accessed before and after the family evidence panel and information and contact details are provided to families in the family information pack.
You can bring someone with you to support you on the day, but anyone who wants to speak in the panel needs to fill out their own Expression of Interest form.
Remuneration and expenses
The Investigation is committed to inclusive participation, and to minimising barriers that can prevent or discourage the participation of family members.
In recognition of the time families will make available to participate in a family evidence panel, families will be offered £75 as a thank you. This will be in the format of a pre-paid card.
Travel and expenses, including childcare, incurred when participating in a meeting can be submitted for reimbursement. Further detail will be provided in the expenses policy, and receipts must be provided.
How to sign up to attend
Please complete the expression of interest form.
Please note: Places are limited and may be allocated if we have high interest. There will be other opportunities to feed back through online surveys.