Maternity & neonatal independent senior advocates: a rapid mixed methods evaluation
As a new senior role is piloted to support women and families in England who have experienced adverse outcomes in their maternity care, the RSET team is conducting an independent evaluation of the pilot to understand how useful and effective the role is for those involved.
What is the evaluation?
The NIHR Rapid Service Evaluation Team (RSET) will be conducting an independent evaluation of the pilot of the implementation of the maternity and neonatal independent senior advocate (MNISA) role in England.
The MNISA role (also referred to as maternity and neonatal ISA) is a new senior role being piloted to support women and families in England. This follows the immediate and essential actions identified in the Ockenden review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. The role of MNISAs is to help ensure the voices of women and families are listened to, heard, and acted upon by their maternity and neonatal care providers when they have experienced an adverse outcome during their maternity and/or neonatal care.
We aim to evaluate:
- Family, MNISA, and wider staff members’ experience
- National stakeholders’ views of the implementation of the MNISA role
- How the service is implemented
- Cost and impact of the MNISA role
- Potential equalities and inequalities related to access and experience.
Our approach
- Documentary analysis of relevant documents.
- Qualitative interviews.
- A workshop with MNISAs delivering the service.
- Analysis of relevant datasets.
When will the evaluation take place?
The evaluation will take place between April 2024 and June 2025.
The study protocol will be available in July/August 2024.
Study team
- Principal Investigator: Dr Nadia Crellin (Nuffield Trust)
- Principal Investigator: Dr Holly Walton (University College London)
- Chris Sherlaw-Johnson (Nuffield Trust)
- Dr Kevin Herbert (University of Cambridge)
- Dr Efthalia Massou (University of Cambridge)
- Dr Rachel Lawrence (University College London)
- Professor Steve Morris (University of Cambridge)
- Professor Naomi Fulop (University College London)
- Pei Li Ng (University College London)
- Cate Maddison (Public Contributor)
- Sarah Fisher (Public Contributor)
- Raj Mehta (RSET PPIE co-lead, Public Contributor)
- Julie Hartley (Sands)
- Janet Scott (Sands)
- Kate Mulley (Sands)
- Ben Wills (Sands)
For further information
To find out more, contact Project Manager, Pei Li Ng: peili.ng@ucl.ac.uk