We want to make sure that every woman and her family has access to safe, high-quality maternity care, giving babies the best possible start in life.

Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems (or LMNSs) were created in 2016 following the recommendations made in the Better Births report.

Gloucestershire Local Maternity and Neonatal System is a partnership of local organisations working with women and birthing people, families, commissioners and healthcare staff to improve maternity and neonatal services in Gloucestershire, and make them safer, more personal and kinder for the people who use them.

Members of our Local Maternity and Neonatal System include:

  • Midwives and health visitors
  • Obstetricians and gynaecologists
  • Neonatal staff
  • Perinatal mental health team
  • Managers and commissioners
  • Public Health
  • Educators
  • GPs and primary care staff
  • Service users through the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership
  • Voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations

Who provides services in Gloucestershire

Maternity care

In Gloucestershire, maternity services are provided by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Health visitors

Health visitors are registered nurses or midwives who support families with young children. In Gloucestershire, health visiting services are provided by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Mental health care during pregnancy and after birth

Mental health services are provided by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. This includes specialist services for women and birthing people who are pregnant or have recently had a baby.

You can find a list of sources of support for mental wellbeing here – www.nhsglos.nhs.uk/perinatalmentalhealth

Healthy Lifestyles Gloucestershire can provide advice and support with things like exercise, eating and stopping smoking during pregnancy.

What the Local Maternity and Neonatal System does

The Three-Year Delivery Plan

NHS England’s ‘Three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services’ brings together the recommendations and requirements from:

The plan is all about delivering safe and personalised care, with a focus on equity and equality. It asks services to concentrate on four main themes:

  • Theme 1: Listening to and working with women and families with compassion
  • Theme 2: Growing, retaining, and supporting our workforce
  • Theme 3: Developing and sustaining a culture of safety, learning, and support
  • Theme 4: Standards and structures that underpin safer, more personalised, and more equitable care

We have worked closely with NHS England, our local Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership, and other system partners, to develop our local version of the three-year delivery plan.

Download a PDF of our Three-Year Delivery Plan here.

Equity and equality

In September 2021, NHS England published guidance for local maternity and neonatal systems around improving equity and equality.

The aims of the guidance were to:

  • Understand the local population – its health outcomes and community assets
  • Understand staff experience, using Workforce Race Equality Scheme data

In response to the guidance, we carried out a health needs analysis based on data from the local population. We identified risk groups and the factors that define these risks. We also looked at responses to the Staff Survey to understand experiences of staff around race equality.

The next step is to use this understanding to:

  • Engage with women, communities and staff in the priority areas to find out what matters to them
  • Co-produce interventions to improve equity for women and babies
  • Co-produce an action plan to improve race equality for staff.

These interventions and actions will form a five year plan which will aim to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes and equity for staff, women and babies in Gloucestershire.

You can download our plan summary here (PDF).

You can download our full plan here (PDF).

Governance

The work of the LMNS is overseen by the LMNS Board, which every two months and has representatives from a number of different organisations.

Contacting us

If you would like to contact Gloucestershire Local Maternity and Neonatal System, you can email glicb.gloucestershirelms@nhs.net.

Get involved in improving local maternity services

Gloucestershire Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) is responsible for gathering and understanding feedback and experiences from women, birthing people and their families who are current or recent users of maternity, neonatal or health visiting services in Gloucestershire.

The MNVP is independent of the NHS, but aims to work closely and in partnership with services to help inform, challenge, bring about positive change and celebrate good practice.

You can find out how to get involved at www.glosmaternityvoices.nhs.uk

More information