Safe midwifery staffing for maternity settings

Recommendation ID: NG4/2
Question: What is the effectiveness of Birthrate Plus compared with other decision support methods or
professional judgement for identifying safe midwifery staffing requirements and midwifery skill
mix for maternity services in England?
Any explanatory notes (if applicable): Birthrate Plus is widely used throughout maternity services in England, but there is a lack of
evidence about what outcomes it influences. Therefore, the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of Birthrate Plus is unknown. It is also unknown whether other toolkits or methods for determining
staffing requirements are better (or worse) than Birthrate Plus. Cluster randomised controlled trials or prospective cohort studies should be designed to compare different defined approaches or decision support toolkits (including Birthrate Plus) with each other or professional judgement. These studies could be done in different maternity settings and should report outcomes relating to midwifery care, safety and satisfaction. Replicate studies should be carried out to provide evidence of reliability and validity. These comparative studies should help to assess the value of using defined approaches and decision support aids, and to identify those that perform best.

Source guidance details

Is this a recommendation for the use of a technology only in the context of research?	No
Is it a recommendation that suggests collection of data or the establishment of a register?	No
Last Reviewed	23/04/2015