Expert panel to rate government’s ability to meet maternity targets

As part of a new pilot team, the expert panel of clinical experts, patient representatives, lawyers, economists and qualitative researchers will give a Care Quality Commission-style (CQC) rating to the government’s overall performance against each target, grading them from “inadequate” to “outstanding”.

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The targets that the government will be assessed on include halving the rate of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths, and brain injuries that occur during or soon after birth by 2025, the committee has announced. 

The government will also be assessed on the progress it has made against its commitment that every woman expecting a child will get a personalised care and support plan by 2021 and the majority will see the same midwife throughout their pregnancy. 

Performance on a specific target to improve maternity care for women from black, asian and minority ethnic communities will also be evaluated as well as staffing levels on maternity wards.

The committee has published details on the criteria the expert panel will use in its evaluation of government performance.

To form the overall rating for each commitment, the panel will gather evidence on whether the government is on track for the commitment to be met, whether it has provided enough resources to achieve the targets and whether the target has produced a positive impact for patients.

Professor Dame Lesley Regan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is among two obstetricians and two midwives that have been appointed as additional members of the expert panel, chaired by professor of medical education at UCL Dame Jane Dacre.

The panel’s evaluation and final report will be separate from the committee’s own inquiry into the safety of maternity services in England, which is examining recurrent failings in services and what action is needed to improve safety for mothers and babies.

Jeremy Hunt MP, chair of the Health and Social Care Committee said: “When it comes to the safety of our maternity services, we must catch up with international exemplars such as Sweden. Government targets are key to driving improvement but we often don’t hear when a target is not met or why.

“With the help of the fantastic expert panel we are trialling a new form of accountability to change this. We’ve chosen to measure performance against targets that really stand to progress the care of mothers and babies and hope the resulting analysis will encourage a positive culture of learning and smarter policy design.”