Welcome to BICS CONference 2023

Below are the selection of workshops for this years programme. You should have received an email on 29th October explaining how to book your choice of workshop. Please log in to TicketTaylor and book now to avoid disappointment.

Workshop Choices for BICS:

Twelve workshops will be available at BICS24. You will be able to select six across the two days of the conference, maximising your opportunity to learn and share with your colleagues.

Workshops 1 to 4 are available in workshop sessions A and B.

Workshops 5 to 8 are available in workshop sessions C and D.

Workshops 9 to 12 are available in workshop sessions E and F.

The number of participants in each workshop will be limited, as each breakout room has a limited capacity. 

Workshops may be subject to change. Alternatives will be offered.

Day 1:

Workshop sessions A and B

1. Managing PPH well as an MDT​

Leads – Amy Elsemore and Helen Millward

Multidisciplinary team working and communication are essential elements of managing postpartum haemorrhage. This workshop will learn from the Obs UK trial leads who have been observing clinical practice around the country. They have come up with solutions to make care safer and more effective through better teamwork, communication, and understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities. 

2. Implementing an “Improving Clinical Escalation” Toolkit

Leads – Susie Crowe and Vicki Cochrane

This workshop will explore ways to help you adopt and embed the RCOG / RCM Each Baby Counts Learn and Support clinical escalation toolkit, from both the lead behind the overall programme as well as a DOM who has successfully implemented the elements in her own unit. Successful clinical escalation is the key to responding to deterioration of the mother, fetus, or newborn – but we know that there remain challenges in maternity care. The EBCL&S toolkit has been widely adopted in some areas but like all quality improvement initiatives sometimes change is difficult. This workshop will explore the toolkit and key enablers for successful adoption. 

3. Mind the gap - Does your birth choices service widen the health equity gap?

Lead – Priya Patel

This joint Whittington Hospital maternity department and MNSI (Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations) workshop will focus on discussions about women/birthing people requesting care that falls outside of current national guidance. 

An audit of the Whittington birth choices clinic highlighted that English-speaking, White women primarily accessed this service. Without any active changes, we risk widening the access to care gap by not providing enhanced antepartum and intrapartum care to people who often experience worse maternal and neonatal outcomes according to MBRRACE-UK. 

This topic has recently come into national focus and the BICS email forum shows us that requesting care outside of the traditional pathway has increasingly become a point of conversation. It involves both a clinician’s perspective in trying to provide better care and exploring options that may feel medically uncomfortable, but also supports and empowers women to make their own choices. 

We will present the Whittington data that inspired this proposal and MNSI findings regarding investigations where recommendations for care outside of guidance requests have been made. We will invite workshop attendees to bring case-studies to spark a mindful and honest debate on potential causes and solutions.

We hope a workshop on framing antenatal conversations to give women confidence in expressing their wants or concerns, means we continue to uphold human rights whilst improving intrapartum experiences and outcomes for all women whatever their background. 

We aim to gauge interest during the workshop among BICS members in collaborating with MNSI to develop a guidance statement on care outside national guidelines. 

4. Practical solutions to implementation of Birmingham Symptom specific Triage System (BSOTS)

Leads – Sara Kenyon and Nina Johns

Maternity triage has been identified in many HSIB (MNSI) and CQC reports as problematic, and they have recommended that ‘face-to-face’ triage in maternity units use a structured approach to prioritise pregnant women so they are seen in order of clinical need not in order of attendance.   

The Birmingham Symptom specific Triage System (BSOTS) was co-developed by the workshop facilitators and provides a standardised maternity triage process. It consists of a prompt and brief assessment by a midwife within 15 minutes of arrival of women, together with use of symptom specific algorithms, to prioritise the urgency of further assessment and medical review. It standardises the care pathway making it more efficient and effective, reduces staff safety concerns and improves management, handover and communication. 

Following publication of the RCOG Good Practice Paper on Maternity Triage in December 2023 BSOTS is the recommended triage system in England. This provides advice on telephone and face to face triage as well as staffing. The system is currently implemented in 112 maternity units, with varying degrees of success, and many others are in the process of implementation.

This workshop will focus on what needs to be in place for BSOTS to be successfully implemented and sustained. It will bring together recent work undertaken by the BSOTS team nationally demonstrating the need for leadership at all levels, a specific area for triage, sufficient space and clinical staff and training and will provide opportunities for those who attend to share experiences and provide practical support and solutions.

Workshop sessions C and D

5. Intrapartum research

Lead – Sara Kenyon and Andrew Weeks

Research in the intrapartum period presents both researchers, clinicians and women with challenges and yet it is the only way to provide the evidence to improve clinical care.

For clinicians many of the research processes do not align with clinical care and appear unwieldy and researchers are faced with the challenge of agreeing processes which are both practical and as easy as possible for clinical staff, but also compliant with regulatory requirements. For women, consent can be sought in circumstances where they may be vulnerable, have varying capacity and require treatment in an emergency and is both ethically and practically challenging. Strategies used have had to balance the need to gain truly informed consent with the desire not to unnecessarily distress or over-medicalise a natural process.

This workshop will provide an opportunity for the lead researchers from current intrapartum studies (under the banner of the Intrapartum Research Collaboration) to discuss the studies themselves, as well as practical solutions to common challenges encountered.

RCOG guidance is somewhat out-dated, and this workshop will offer the opportunity to discuss the recent emerging evidence that Research Without Prior Consent (RWPC) is a feasible option for women, researchers and clinicians.

6. Bereavement care workshop run by the SUPPORT course team, using the new training film “Say My Baby’s Name; Pregnancy After Loss."

Leads – Ellie Bard and Bethany Atkins

A growing body of evidence suggests beneficial effects for parents who receive supportive care and are offered choices following stillbirth, such as mode of birth, and the option to see and hold their baby. Repeatedly, healthcare professionals report no specific training in perinatal bereavement care, and often feel ill-equipped to provide this.

Come and join us for a compact version of the SUPPORT bereavement course, which has been running at UCL since 2020. This one-day course aims to equip health professionals to provide compassionate and supportive care for parents experiencing stillbirth, miscarriage, neonatal death or termination for fetal anomalies.

The workshop will build on last year’s session (BICS 2023) and will use the latest evidence to cover:

- How intrapartum care could be re-assessed for those experiencing a stillbirth or termination for medical reasons. Giving options and ensuring that parents’ choices are heard is paramount.

- Introduction to the National Bereavement Care Pathway for pregnancy and baby loss. As of June 2024, all NHS England Trusts, and 9 out of 14 Scottish NHS Boards, have signed up to this pathway.

- Interactive session on communication using the new film commissioned by Abigail’s Footsteps, “Say My Baby’s Name; Pregnancy After Loss.” 

This will help health professionals reflect on their interactions with parents returning for their next child following a bereavement, and will focus on the use of language, listening and empathy to provide compassionate care.

7. Responding to trauma

Lead – Fran Hills

This workshop will look at how services can respond to and care for women who disclose a history of trauma, including sexual abuse. 

8. Supportive conversations

Lead – Amanda Gotch

Practice, observe, discuss and reflect on how to facilitate informed decision making in a safe and supported environment. This will be an interactive workshop, using a supported conversations model, to explore ways of discussing individualised care.

Day 2:

Workshop sessions E and F

10. British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) – what’s new in the world of neonatology ​

Lead – Dr Sarah Bates

BAPM www.bapm.org improves standards of perinatal care by supporting all those involved in perinatal care to optimise their skills and knowledge, promote high quality, safe and innovative practice, encourage research, and speak out for the needs of babies and their families.

This workshop will provide an update on developments in neonatology.

9. Gentle caesarean birth

Lead – Ihab Abassi

Does your multiprofessional team facilitate gentle caesarean births? Is it part of your normal practice? This workshop will provide a forum for sharing practical approaches to what adaptations can become ‘business as usual’ in obstetric theatres.

11. What’s new in the world of obstetric anaesthesia 

Lead – Andrew Clark

The OAA www.oaa-anaes.ac.uk promotes the highest standards of obstetric anaesthetic practice through knowledge and education for healthcare professionals. It also provides information for service users through the www.labourpains.org website.

This workshop will provide an update on developments in obstetric anaesthesia.

C4. Culture in maternity

Lead – Tony Kelly and Hannah Rutter

We all contribute to the culture within our own organisations - we shape it, and it shapes us. A positive safety culture has been identified as a key factor in improving the experience of care, outcomes for women and babies, and for supporting staff. This workshop will explore culture change and getting culture right in maternity care.