IDEAS & RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING INDUCTION OF LABOUR PRACTICE

Ever since its inception in 2018, improving the experience of women and birthing people† undergoing induction of labour has been at the forefront of the work the British Intrapartum Care Society (BICS) has undertaken. It is the only topic to have featured in all our conferences with fully booked workshops attended by highly engaged maternity staff, all driven to improve their services. 

This document is therefore a real example of the positive change that can come about when you get midwives, obstetricians, and service users in a room together with a shared vision. There is so much passion and drive in the system to co-produce, listen to women, and create services that promote safe, personalised, equitable care for all. 

Due to changing guidelines and policies over recent years, there has been a significant rise in the numbers of women being offered an induction of labour. This has resulted in ongoing quality improvement projects in almost every maternity service. Unit guidelines and practices will always be determined by several things, including responding to local population needs, staffing, and estates. What we are increasingly learning however is that services are have more in common with each other than ways in which they differ, and there is a real opportunity to learn from excellence, collaborate, and form networks that create change. 

It is also important to recognise the rising reports of birth trauma in the UK, and the impact that compassionate, personalised care delivered by staff who truly listen to women can have on birth experiences. This document, with its focus on co-production and improving experience has the potential to impact so many women in the UK during one of the most transformative times of their lives. 

This work is at the heart of the mission statement of BICS - promoting safe, personalised, equitable care, underpinned by collaborative MDT working, with a focus on compassion, kindness, engagement, and listening. We are proud to have been part of this initiative, and are grateful to the leads as well as everyone who collaborated, engaged, and shared.

We look forward over the coming years to revisiting this work in future conferences and webinars to see what impact it has made. And to everyone working in this space to improve services – thank you for all that you do.

Susie Crowe, President British Intrapartum Care Society

November 2023

† The term ‘birthing people’ is used here to acknowledge that there are some pregnant people who do not identify with their birth gender. However, for the sake of brevity, for the remainder of the document we have used the term ‘women/woman’ to refer to all those who are pregnant, irrespective of gender identity.