Views towards 24-7 consultant presence on maternity unit
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of service user and staff views towards 24-7 consultant presence on a maternity unit: A Q-methodology study
IRAS ID
192462
Contact name
Alexander Heazell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
On 1st September 2014 St. Mary’s Hospital became the first maternity unit in the UK to ensure a consultant obstetrician is present 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24-7) across the entire unit. Consultants are specialised in a particular field of medicine, in this case obstetrics, and lead the team of doctors in making decisions about patient care. Medical emergencies during pregnancy and birth can occur at any time and this is one of the arguments for the introduction of 24-7 consultant presence on the maternity unit. Therefore, it is thought that ensuring a consultant is available at all times will improve safety and care of the mother and baby. However, there is little evidence to show that 24-7 consultant presence improves patient outcomes and we aim to investigate this change to the maternity service.
We will explore the opinions of maternity service users and staff who work on the maternity unit (such as midwives, consultants and junior doctors). We will use Q-methodology, which involves two stages. The first stage involves interviewing service users and staff to aid the development of a Q-set; a set of statements outlining how people feel about 24-7 consultant presence on the maternity unit. The second stage will see another sample of staff and service users sort these statements depending on how much they ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ with each statement.
The results will tell us how service users and staff experience the change in working pattern, allowing us to determine recommendations for improving the St. Mary’s maternity service which may be generalized to other maternity hospitals.REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0774
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jan 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion