Collaborative working benefits everyone

The work of Maternity Voices Partnerships (MVP) is all about listening to women and using their feedback to bring positive change in the service. Because of the pandemic, this came to the fore. Reading MVP Chair Emma shares their story.

It was clear from the beginning of lockdown that women needed information, and a place to share concerns and ask questions. We decided to work with the Royal Berkshire Hospital to share information about changes to services so people understood what was happening.

We were clearly needed

In February 2020 we had 500 likes on our Facebook page; currently over 1700 local people are following us. At the height of the lockdown our inbox overflowed daily with questions and feedback from women about their fears and their care.

“Our inbox overflowed daily with questions about fears and care”

Ask the Midwives

One of the most effective ways was by working with two midwives, Consultant Midwife Sam and Delivery Suite Manager Sara, on weekly sessions where women could ‘Ask the Midwives’ anything about their care during the pandemic. They were a phenomenal success: posts advertising these regularly reached 10,000 people, and the sessions often had 100 posts from women. Sam, Sara and I would collaborate by conference call alongside a live Facebook post, answering queries and picking up on issues to discuss later.

Permanent feature

Women loved getting answers in real time, and appreciated the effort and commitment to care that they signified. We continued them less frequently during the quieter period of the pandemic, and they are to become a permanent feature in the work we all do to engage with the local community - just one example of how collaborative working benefits everyone.