Birthrights has signed an open letter to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, calling for the reinstatement of the Maternity Safety Training Fund. The letter was initiated by the charity Baby Lifeline.
The last Maternity Safety Training Fund, in 2016, enabled Trusts to access a wide range of training courses to ensure staff were up to date with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver safe and personalised maternity care. It also gave maternity teams the opportunity to train together – a key recommendation of Better Births. This should not be a one off. Teams should have continuous access to the training they need to work together effectively to deliver safe and personalised care.
Birthrights was pleased to run training on “Creating a safe maternity culture” at a significant number of Trusts as a result of the last Maternity Safety Training Fund. Our training is always available to Trusts, Local Maternity Systems (LMSs) and other organisations, but some have told us that, while they would love to commission our training, they don’t have the budget. Ongoing funding for training is vitally important to getting training like ours, into Trusts and LMSs. We urge the Government to invest in training for maternity staff – it is not only an investment in staff but an investment in the safety and wellbeing of families across the country.