The CHERISH research project, that aims to improve outcomes for women aiming to give birth spontaneously, is hosting an online launch event on Friday, 20 January.
The team hopes the event will help create a network of people to enrich the diversity and range of voices included within the project. It will take place on MS Teams between 11am and 1pm and is open to everyone.
Anyone interested should register online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cherish-programme-launch-event-tickets-507349164007.
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the CHERISH (Co-development of a holistic, personalized intervention to improve experiences and outcomes of childbirth for those aiming for a spontaneous birth) programme is co-designed by service-users, members of the public and maternity health care professionals. The collaboration includes City University of London, University of Nottingham and the University of Central Lancashire and supported by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
The programme has been set up to carry out the preparatory work needed to create and test a holistic, personalised birth bundle, co-designed by service-users, members of the public and maternity health care professionals, to improve outcomes for women who aim for a spontaneous labour and birth.
The team behind it is made up of a range of experts from different sides of maternity services who all bring different perspectives, including maternity service-users, improvement campaigners, midwives and obstetricians.
Dr Kate Walker Clinical Associate Professor in Obstetrics/Anne McLaren Fellow at the University of Nottingham and Consultant Obstetrician and Induction of Labour Lead for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “I’m really excited to work on this collaboration. It’s a topic that needs investigation. I want to be able to support women/pregnant people with high quality evidence to guide their choices around childbirth.”
Mandie Scamell, Senior Tutor for Research and Senior Lecturer at the City University of London and one of the joint principal investigators said: “I’m honoured to be part of a project team that brings such a range of voices, including members of the public, to the maternity care research table. We all know that inclusivity is essential to safety in the maternity services. This is why our project uses co-design to gather the evidence on how best to support and improve outcomes for those seeking to birth spontaneously.”
Notes to Editors
The mission of the NIHR is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
- Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
- Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
- Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
- Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
- Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
- Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.
CHERISH is an NIHR funded Programme Development Grant. Programme Development Grants (PDGs) are available for researchers to undertake preparatory work to develop a future programme of research.