Newcastle Hospitals has launched a new midwifery team to support pregnant women across Newcastle.
The Nova team is a group of eight midwives based at the Newcastle Birthing Centre who will support women through all stages of their pregnancy, birth and in the postnatal period. The team will provide care following the continuity of carer model.
Continuity of Carer is a national initiative developed as part of The Maternity Transformation Programme, which works towards achieving the vision set out in Better Births (2016), a National Maternity Review promoting safe, personalised care.
The Nova team is the second continuity of carer team at Newcastle Hospitals following the launch of the Willow team in January 2020. While the Willow team cares for pregnant women in the East of the city the Nova Team will care for women across Newcastle.
This way of working means that those expecting a baby have the opportunity to meet all of the midwives providing their care. This more personalised approach offers many benefits as Melissa Letouze,​ continuity of carer lead at Newcastle Hospitals explains: “Evidence has shown that continuity of carer is associated with improved outcomes for mothers and babies, women have also reported greater satisfaction with their overall care.
“For the midwives in the team, it also means they can build strong relationships with the women they care for.”
Each of the midwives in the Nova team will have a small caseload and as well as providing care during pregnancy they will also provide labour and birth care 24 hours a day 7 days a week, meaning women are more likely to know the midwife delivering their baby. It also means the team have the ability to provide some flexibility around antenatal and postnatal appointments.
Jane Anderson, associate director of midwifery said: “I am delighted to announce the launch of our second continuity of carer team at Newcastle Hospitals. The Nova Team will provide high quality of care to women and their families from across the city and will join the Willow Team in delivering a continuity model to further support personalised care.”
You can find out more about continuity of carer at Newcastle Hospitals here.
