East Cheshire NHS Trust receives national recognition for supporting partners to attend scans during the Covid-19 pandemic

East Cheshire NHS Trust has been identified as a site of good practice for pregnant women attending antenatal scans during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The trust was recognised as one of the first organisations to allow partners to attend scans during the pandemic. This has been highlighted at a webinar chaired by Joanne Fillingham, Deputy Chief Allied Health Professionals at NHS Improvement.

East Cheshire NHS Trust’s Head of Midwifery, Bo Hamilton-Cody said, “At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, national guidance was issued to reduce the number of visitors in hospitals across the UK.  Unfortunately, this had a negative impact on women who were unable to be accompanied to scans during the early stages of their pregnancy.  Subsequently, the national guidance was changed in June 2020, and we are extremely proud that we were able to enact this change quickly when very few other trusts were able too.

“The webinar was a great opportunity for us to talk about our own experiences, collaborative working and share good practice.

“To deliver this service, teams across maternity and radiology worked closely to provide an enhanced patient experience. It is fantastic to be able to work with colleagues to support women and their partners to attend these scans at this exciting time in their life, despite the challenges that Covid-19 brings.

“One of the benefits of us being a small trust is that we are agile and flexible, so we were able to reduce the barriers and find solutions within our estate to accommodate this early on.

“Getting to know our patients and recognising their individual care pathways helps us really understand the impact of our actions and how a positive experience can make such a difference.

“We are now working hard to support partners to attend all antenatal appointments during their pregnancy whether that be at Macclesfield District General Hospital or with their community midwives and hope to have this in place by early 2021.

“The changes the trust has made were really well received with specific thanks given by England’s Chief Nursing Officer, Gill Walton.”

ENDS

Caption: Pictured is Bronte Aspin-Wood attending her antenatal scan with her partner at Macclesfield District General Hospital.