Quality standard

Quality statement 1: Communication between healthcare professionals at transfer of care

Quality statement 1: Communication between healthcare professionals at transfer of care

Quality statement

Women who are transferring between services in the postnatal period have relevant information shared between healthcare professionals to support their care. [new 2022]

Rationale

Women will transfer between services and healthcare professionals during the postnatal period, for example, from secondary to primary care and from midwifery to health visitors. Promptly sharing relevant information when transferring between services supports a seamless transfer of care. It also helps healthcare professionals support individual needs for all birth outcomes, including those of vulnerable women who may be at higher risk of adverse outcomes. Healthcare professionals will have all the relevant information they need to plan and provide ongoing care and interventions, and women will not need to repeat information to different healthcare professionals.

Quality measures

The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.

Process

a) Proportion of transfers of women into a service in the postnatal period where a notification of transfer has taken place to relevant healthcare professionals and the woman or the parents.

Numerator – the number in the denominator where a notification of transfer has taken place to relevant healthcare professionals and the woman or the parents.

Denominator – the number of transfers of women into a service in the postnatal period.

Data source: Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example, from electronic patient records.

b) Proportion of women transferring into a service in the postnatal period with a record of complete relevant information provided by the transferring service.

Numerator – the number in the denominator with a record of complete relevant information provided by the transferring service.

Denominator – the number of women transferring into a service in the postnatal period.

Data source: Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example, from electronic patient records.

Outcome

Proportion of women who agreed that their healthcare professionals in the postnatal period always appeared to be aware of the relevant history for them and their baby.

Numerator – the number in the denominator who agreed that their healthcare professionals in the postnatal period always appeared to be aware of the relevant history for them and their baby.

Denominator – the number of women who had a live birth.

Data source: Data could be collected from a local survey of women who had a live birth after the postnatal period. The Care Quality Commission maternity survey includes data on the proportion of women who said that the midwife or midwifery team they saw or spoke to always appeared to be aware of the medical history for them and their baby.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (such as NHS hospital trusts, community providers, mental health providers and primary care) have clear processes and systems in place for sharing information when care for women transfers between services in the postnatal period to support their ongoing care. Service providers ensure that healthcare professionals notify relevant healthcare professionals and the woman or the parents that care has been transferred to another service. Service providers monitor the timeliness and completeness of information sharing at transfer of care in the postnatal period.

Healthcare professionals (such as obstetricians, midwives, health visitors, psychiatrists and GPs) ensure that they share all relevant information for women at transfer of care between services in the postnatal period to support their ongoing care. They also notify relevant healthcare professionals and the woman or the parents that care has been transferred to another service.

Commissioners (integrated care systems, local authorities and NHS England) ensure that they commission services that share relevant information for women at transfer of care between services in the postnatal period to support their ongoing care. Commissioners work together to ensure that systems are in place to enable information to be shared quickly and easily between services in the postnatal period.

Women who have given birth know when their care has been transferred to another service during the first 8 weeks after birth. They have relevant information about them shared between healthcare professionals so that they feel supported by the different teams.

Source guidance

Postnatal care. NICE guideline NG194 (2021), recommendation 1.1.8

Definitions of terms used in this quality statement

Postnatal period

The first 8 weeks after birth. [NICE's guideline on postnatal care, overview]

Relevant information

This should include information about:

  • the pregnancy, birth, postnatal period and any complications

  • the plan of ongoing care, including any condition that needs long-term management

  • problems related to previous pregnancies that may be relevant to current care

  • previous or current mental health concerns

  • female genital mutilation (mother or previous child)

  • who has parental responsibility for the baby, if known

  • next of kin

  • safeguarding issues

  • concerns about the woman's health and care, raised by her, her partner or a healthcare professional

  • concerns about the baby's health and care, raised by the parents or a healthcare professional

  • the baby's feeding.

[NICE's guideline on postnatal care, recommendation 1.1.8]

Equality and diversity considerations

There is a risk that the needs of vulnerable women could be overlooked if the sharing of information at transfer of care between services in the postnatal period is inadequate. This includes young women, women experiencing homelessness, and women who have physical or cognitive disabilities, severe mental health illness or difficulty accessing postnatal care services. It is a priority to ensure that potential known or suspected problems for vulnerable women are not missed by healthcare professionals at transfer of care.