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This guideline covers safe midwifery staffing in all maternity settings, including at home, in the community, in day assessment units, in obstetric units, and in units led by midwives (both alongside hospitals and free-standing). It aims to improve maternity care by giving advice on monitoring staffing levels and actions to take if there are not enough midwives to meet the needs of women and babies in the service.
This indicator covers patient experiences of maternity services. It measures outcomes that reflect the quality of care or processes linked by evidence to improved outcomes
This quality standard covers the routine antenatal care that women and their babies should receive during pregnancy. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS22Show all sections
Sections for QS22
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Access to antenatal care
- Quality statement 2: Risk assessment
- Quality statement 3: Continuity of carer
- Quality statement 4: Vaccination
- Quality statement 5: Referral for stop-smoking support and treatment
- Quality statement 6: Healthy eating in pregnancy
- Update information
How to use NICE guidance to reduce health inequalities during and after pregnancy.
This quality standard covers the care of pregnant women or pregnant people who are considering having or may need to have a caesarean birth, including those who have had a caesarean birth in the past. It includes decision making, reducing the risk of complications and care after a caesarean birth. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS32Show all sections
Sections for QS32
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Vaginal birth after a caesarean birth
- Quality statement 2: Request for a caesarean birth: maternity team involvement
- Quality statement 3: Request for a caesarean birth: anxiety
- Quality statement 4: Consultant obstetrician involvement in decision making for planned caesarean birth
- Quality statement 5: Timing of planned caesarean birth
- Quality statement 6: Consultant obstetrician involvement in decision making for unplanned caesarean birth
- Quality statement 7: The use of fetal blood sampling
Intrapartum care: existing medical conditions and obstetric complications (QS192)
This quality standard covers care during labour and birth for women who need extra support because they have a medical condition or complications in their current or previous pregnancy. It also covers women who have had no antenatal care. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement. It does not cover the antenatal and postnatal care of pregnant women with mental health conditions, hypertension in pregnancy, diabetes in pregnancy or the organisation of care for pregnant women with complex social factors.
View quality statements for QS192Show all sections
Sections for QS192
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Involving women in care planning
- Quality statement 2: Composition of the multidisciplinary team
- Quality statement 3: Heart disease – risk assessment
- Quality statement 4: Assessment and antibiotic treatment for suspected sepsis
- Quality statement 5: Women with no antenatal care
- Update information
- About this quality standard
This quality standard covers the induction of labour in hospital outpatient or inpatient settings. It includes advice and care for pregnant women who are considering or having induction of labour. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS60Show all sections
Sections for QS60
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Women's involvement in decisions about induction of labour
- Quality statement 2: Safety and support for women having labour induced as outpatients
- Quality statement 3: Pain relief
- Quality statement 4: Membrane sweeping for prolonged pregnancy
- Update information
- About this quality standard
This quality standard covers the care of women and their babies during labour and immediately after the birth. It covers women who go into labour at term, and includes women at low risk of complications during labour and those who go on to develop complications. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS105Show all sections
Sections for QS105
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Choosing birth setting
- Quality statement 2: One-to-one care
- Quality statement 3: Cardiotocography and initial assessment of a woman in labour
- Quality statement 4: Stopping cardiotocography
- Quality statement 5: Interventions during labour
- Quality statement 6: Delayed cord clamping
- Quality statement 7: Skin-to-skin contact
This quality standard covers assessing and diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in children and young people. It also covers support during pregnancy to prevent FASD. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS204Show all sections
This guideline covers supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children under 5 through home visiting, childcare and early education. It aims to optimise care for young children who need extra support because they have or are at risk of social or emotional problems.
This quality standard covers preventing bacterial infection in newborn babies, treating pregnant women and pregnant people whose babies are at risk of infection, and treating newborn babies with suspected or confirmed bacterial infection. It includes when to give antibiotics to prevent and treat neonatal bacterial infection and describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement. This includes early-onset (within 72 hours of birth) and late-onset (between 72 hours and 28 days following birth) neonatal infection.
View quality statements for QS75Show all sections
Sections for QS75
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Intrapartum antibiotics
- Quality statement 2: Assessment for early-onset neonatal infection
- Quality statement 3: Prompt antibiotic treatment for neonatal infection
- Quality statement 4: Reassessing antibiotic treatment for neonatal infection
- Quality statement 5: Information and support for parents and carers
- Update information
- About this quality standard
This quality standard covers the additional antenatal care for women who are pregnant with twins or triplets that is offered alongside routine antenatal care. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS46Show all sections
Sections for QS46
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Determining chorionicity and amnionicity
- Quality statement 2: Labelling the fetuses
- Quality statement 3: Composition of the multidisciplinary core team
- Quality statement 4: Care planning
- Quality statement 5: Monitoring for fetal complications
- Quality statement 6: Involving a consultant from a tertiary level fetal medicine centre
- Quality statement 7: Advice and preparation for preterm birth
This guideline covers contraceptive services for under-25s. It aims to ensure all under-25s are given advice and information on all types of contraception. This includes additional tailored support to meet the particular needs and choices of those who are socially disadvantaged or who may find it difficult to use these services.
View recommendations for PH51Show all sections
This guideline covers antenatal care for all pregnant women with complex social factors (particularly alcohol or drug misuse, recent migrant or asylum seeker status, difficulty reading or speaking English, aged under 20, domestic abuse). It offers advice on improving access to care, maintaining contact with antenatal carers, and additional information and support for these women.
Suspected sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management
plan to review the use of the paediatric early warning score (PEWS) and maternity early warning score (MEWS) tools, and consider making...
This guideline covers the routine antenatal care that women and their babies should receive. It aims to ensure that pregnant women are offered regular check-ups, information and support.
This guideline covers when to offer and discuss caesarean birth, procedural aspects of the operation, and care after caesarean birth. It aims to improve the consistency and quality of care for women and pregnant people who are thinking about having a caesarean birth or have had a caesarean birth in the past and are now pregnant again.
This quality standard covers care for pregnant women who may be at risk of, or have symptoms and signs of, starting labour and giving birth early (preterm). It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS135Show all sections
Sections for QS135
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Providing information about potential signs and symptoms of preterm labour
- Quality statement 2: Prophylactic vaginal progesterone and prophylactic cervical cerclage
- Quality statement 3: Information for women having a planned preterm birth
- Quality statement 4: Tocolysis for women between 26+0 and 33+6 weeks of pregnancy
- Quality statement 5: Corticosteroids for women between 24+0 and 33+6 weeks of pregnancy
- Quality statement 6: Magnesium sulfate for women between 24+0 and 29+6 weeks of pregnancy
- Update information
This quality standard covers routine postnatal care in the first 8 weeks after birth. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS37Show all sections
Sections for QS37
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Communication between healthcare professionals at transfer of care
- Quality statement 2: Information and advice about babies' feeding
- Quality statement 3: Symptoms and signs of illness in babies
- Quality statement 4: Face-to-face feeding support
- Quality statement 5: Safer practices for bed sharing
- Quality statement 6: GP postnatal check for women
- Quality statement 7: Advice on introducing solid food
What is the relationship between midwifery staffing and outcomes in maternity settings in England, and what factors act as modifiers or...
This quality standard covers managing faecal (bowel) incontinence in adults (aged 18 and over) in the community (at home and in care homes) and in all hospital departments. It includes assessment of bowel control problems, advice and support, and treatment options. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS54Show all sections
This quality standard covers recognising and managing faltering growth in babies (aged up to 1 year) and preschool children (aged over 1 year). It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
skill mix for maternity services in England? Any explanatory notes(if applicable) Birthrate Plus is widely used throughout...
This guideline covers the routine postnatal care that women and their babies should receive in the first 8 weeks after the birth. It includes the organisation and delivery of postnatal care, identifying and managing common and serious health problems in women and their babies, how to help parents form strong relationships with their babies, and baby feeding. The recommendations on emotional attachment and baby feeding also cover the antenatal period.
Safe staffing for nursing in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals (SG1)
This guideline covers organisational and managerial approaches to safe nurse staffing of inpatient wards for people aged 18 and over in acute hospitals. It aims to ensure that patients receive the nursing care they need, regardless of the ward to which they are allocated, the time of the day, or the day of the week.
This quality standard covers support and treatment to stop smoking and stop using smokeless tobacco, and harm-reduction approaches for people who are not ready to stop in one go. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS207Show all sections
Sections for QS207
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Identifying people who use tobacco
- Quality statement 2: Advice
- Quality statement 3: Tobacco cessation support and treatment
- Quality statement 4: Harm-reduction approach
- Quality statement 5: Treatment to stop smoking in hospital
- Update information
- About this quality standard
This quality standard covers contraception for women, including emergency contraception. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS129Show all sections
Health inequalities are differences in health across the population, and between different groups in society, that are systematic, unfair and avoidable.
Tobacco: preventing uptake, promoting quitting and treating dependence (NG209)
This guideline covers support to stop smoking for everyone aged 12 and over, and help to reduce people's harm from smoking if they are not ready to stop in one go. It also covers ways to prevent children, young people and young adults aged 24 and under from taking up smoking.
We are listening to your views on this Technology appraisal guidance. Comments close 13 February 2026.
We are listening to your views on this Technology appraisal guidance. Comments close 24 February 2026.
We are listening to your views on this Technology appraisal guidance. Comments close 26 February 2026.
Antenatal and postnatal mental health: clinical management and service guidance (CG192)
This guideline covers recognising, assessing and treating mental health problems in women who are planning to have a baby, are pregnant, or have had a baby or been pregnant in the past year. It covers depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, drug- and alcohol-use disorders and severe mental illness (such as psychosis, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia). It promotes early detection and good management of mental health problems to improve women’s quality of life during pregnancy and in the year after giving birth.
This indicator covers the proportion of births resulting in a neonatal unit admission. It measures outcomes that reflect the quality of care or processes linked by evidence to improved outcomes. This indicator was previously published as CCG36
This indicator covers infant Mortality. It measures outcomes that reflect the quality of care or processes linked by evidence to improved outcomes
Guidance on the use of electroconvulsive therapy: review proposal consultation
We are listening to your views on this Technology appraisal guidance. Comments close 16 February 2026.
This guideline covers how donor milk banks should recruit, screen and support women who donate breast milk. It also covers how milk banks should handle and process the breast milk they receive from donors. It aims to improve the safety of donor milk and operation of donor milk services.
This guideline covers the circumstances for inducing labour, methods of induction, assessment, monitoring, pain relief and managing complications. It aims to improve advice and care for pregnant women who are thinking about or having induction of labour.
Health inequalities can be experienced by people grouped by a range of different factors.
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This quality standard covers recognising, assessing and treating mental health problems in women planning, during or after pregnancy (up to a year after childbirth). It also covers the organisation of mental health services for women during and after pregnancy. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS115Show all sections
Sections for QS115
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Valproate
- Quality statement 2: Pre-conception information
- Quality statement 3: Information for pregnant women
- Quality statement 4: Asking about mental health and wellbeing
- Quality statement 5: Comprehensive mental health assessment
- Quality statement 6: Psychological interventions
- Quality statement 7 (developmental): Specialist multidisciplinary perinatal mental health services
Our guidelines make evidence based, best practice recommendations. These help to improve patient safety and reduce the risk of harm across the health system.
This quality standard covers recognising and managing jaundice in newborn babies (neonatal jaundice), from birth to 28 days, in primary care (including community care) and secondary care. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS57Show all sections
Neonatal infection: antibiotics for prevention and treatment (NG195)
This guideline covers preventing bacterial infection in healthy babies of up to and including 28 days corrected gestational age, treating pregnant women whose unborn baby is at risk of infection, and caring for babies of up to and including 28 days corrected gestational age with a suspected or confirmed bacterial infection. It aims to reduce delays in recognising and treating infection and prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics. The guideline does not cover viral infections.
Prevena incision management system for closed surgical incisions (MIB173)
NICE has developed a medtech innovation briefing (MIB) on Prevena incision management system for closed surgical incisions .
Vitamin D: supplement use in specific population groups (PH56)
This guideline covers vitamin D supplement use. It aims to prevent vitamin D deficiency among specific population groups including infants and children aged under 4, pregnant and breastfeeding women, particularly teenagers and young women, people over 65, people who have low or no exposure to the sun and people with dark skin.
This guideline covers the components of a good patient experience. It aims to make sure that all adults using NHS services have the best possible experience of care.
View recommendations for CG138Show all sections
This guideline covers the care of women with a singleton pregnancy at increased risk of, or with symptoms and signs of, preterm labour (before 37 weeks), and women with a singleton pregnancy having a planned preterm birth. It aims to reduce the risks of preterm birth for the baby and describes treatments to prevent or delay early labour and birth.
This guideline covers how to make shared decision making part of everyday care in all healthcare settings. It promotes ways for healthcare professionals and people using services to work together to make decisions about treatment and care. It includes recommendations on training, communicating risks, benefits and consequences, using decision aids, and how to embed shared decision making in organisational culture and practices.
This quality standard covers reducing and preventing tobacco use in adults, young people and children. It includes interventions to discourage people from taking up smoking, tobacco control strategies and smokefree policies. It is particularly relevant to local authorities, schools and colleges, employers and NHS service providers. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
View quality statements for QS82Show all sections
Sections for QS82
- Quality statements
- Quality statement 1: Schools and colleges: interventions
- Quality statement 2: Schools and colleges: smokefree grounds
- Quality statement 3: Underage sales
- Quality statement 4: Workplace policy
- Quality statement 5: Healthcare services: employee contracts
- Quality statement 6: Healthcare settings: smokefree grounds
- Quality statement 7: Healthcare settings: nicotine-containing products and stop-smoking pharmacotherapies