Speaking Up in Maternity care: A Systems Approach (SURE)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Co-designing systemic improvement recommendations for speaking up in maternity care in England: A multi-method qualitative study
IRAS ID
362483
Contact name
Charlotte Phillips
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
In healthcare, “speaking up” involves letting others know about anything that concerns you, for example anything that affects patient care, healthcare work or the wellbeing of people within the healthcare system. When people in healthcare systems feel safe and supported to speak up, organisations can learn and make changes. This fosters learning and improvement, and may reduce the risk of avoidable harm.
Behaviour-based approaches for improving speaking up in healthcare systems might not lead to meaningful or sustainable change, because they don’t fully address how complex healthcare systems are. This study will take a systems approach to understanding speaking up in maternity care, which involves understanding the work systems involved in speaking up and looking to identify any parts of the work system that might make it easier or harder for people to speak up about anything that concerns them.The overall aim of this study is to co-design systemic improvement recommendations for speaking up in maternity care in England. This study is being conducted in three phases – termed “work packages” (WP). WP1 will observe the work of maternity staff and systems in two NHS Trusts in England to understand the work system and contextual factors (barriers and facilitators) influencing speaking up in maternity care systems. Whilst the focus is observing staff and systems, this may involve observing staff whilst they are delivering patient care (with staff and patient consent). WP2 will conduct interviews with a diverse range of maternity system users, to explore views and experiences of speaking up in maternity care systems in England. WP3 will present the anonymised findings of WP1 and WP2 to a new group of collaborators (patients and families, researchers, patient safety experts, midwives, healthcare and medical staff) and will collaboratively co-design recommendations for system-level improvements to speaking up in maternity care in England.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/SC/0326
Date of REC Opinion
10 Nov 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion