The UK Midwifery Study System (UKMidSS)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The UK Midwifery Study System (UKMidSS): a programme of work to establish a research infrastructure to carry out national epidemiological studies of uncommon conditions and events in midwifery units
IRAS ID
169050
Contact name
Rachel Rowe
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Government policy on maternity care says that healthy women with straightforward pregnancies should have choice about where to plan to have their baby, including care in a midwifery-led setting, that is in a midwifery unit or at home. We know that women who plan to give birth in these settings are more likely to have a straightforward birth without needing medical help from a doctor. Care in a midwifery unit is as safe for the woman and the baby as care in a hospital obstetric unit (OU). The number of midwifery units has increased, particularly alongside midwifery units (AMUs), which are located on the same site as hospital OUs. National guidelines recommend that all healthy women with straightforward pregnancies should be advised to have their baby in a midwifery-led setting.
Because care in midwifery-led settings is becoming more important, we need more information to improve care and make it even safer and also to see if it may be safe for some women with more complicated pregnancies to plan birth in these settings. This information is not routinely available.
This programme of research aims to set up the UK Midwifery Study System (UKMidSS), a national network of midwives in AMUs who will report anonymised information to facilitate national studies of uncommon events and conditions in women planning birth in AMUs. UKMidSS will use similar methods to the successful UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) which has run in hospital OUs since 2005. The first two studies carried out using UKMidSS will investigate outcomes in severely obese women and in women with a baby admitted to neonatal care after birth in an AMU.
The research will be carried out at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) at the University of Oxford and is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0166
Date of REC Opinion
27 May 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion