Our Maternity Engagement Team is working to ensure that multiple pregnancies receive the correct level of care in hospital.

Initially funded by the Department of Health, the Maternity Engagement Project is now one of our priorities and Twins Trust is committed to continuing the work as part of our ongoing focus on quality improvement for maternity units.

The aim is to ensure that women receive the right level of care for their type of pregnancy in line with national guidance from NICE as evidence suggests that following the guidelines saves lives whilst promoting good, safe quality care for all. 

As the guidelines are not compulsory not all maternity units are following them. 

To try to combat this, our team work with specialist midwives who visit maternity units and work with them to improve the level of care given. 

We also provide booklets on multiple pregnancy that the units can give to parents expecting twins or more and the units can also get advice from the midwives and the Twins Trust team. 

To help make sure the correct care is given at the correct time during pregnancy, we created a multiple specific care pathway which details what should be happening throughout your pregnancy You can print this out and take it to your appointments. 

We would encourage you to tell your maternity unit about Twins Trust and the work we are doing. We would be happy to help them to improve the care they can offer.

Here’s what our initial project found: 

In 12 months there were
-    200 fewer neonatal admissions
-    105 fewer emergency c-sections

And independent number crunchers have shown that if we carry on with this project, based on similar results, this is what it could mean for all maternity units in England over the course of a year

-    Neonatal admissions in multiples could be reduced by 1,308
-    Emergency c-sections could be reduced by 634
-    NHS England would save £8 million

If you have any questions about the care you are receiving from your unit please contact us on [email protected]