Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP)

NHS Forth Valley’s Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is a group of volunteers who represent the voices of  local women and families from local communities across Forth Valley to help drive forward  improvements in local maternity services and neonatal care.

As well as recommending changes and improvements being provided to expectant and new parents, it also aims to build good relationships between service users and local maternity teams and identify opportunities for joint working on a wide range of projects and initiatives.

Our members are:

• Local people who have recently had a baby or are currently expecting a baby.
• Healthcare professionals, including midwives, health visitors, obstetricians and neonatal staff who work in the maternity unit in Forth Valley Royal Hospital and provide care in local homes and communities.
• Representatives from voluntary groups and organisations who support pregnant women and new parents.

Why should I get involved?

We want to find out what parents from all walks of life need to make their experience of our maternity services a good one.

The views and experiences of local people are essential to help shape and improve current and future maternity services as well as giving local staff feedback and a valuable insight from the perspective of those who use our services.

Please note, the MVP cannot however deal with  personal queries or complaints from individuals about their clinical care. If you have any questions about your maternity care, please speak first to your midwife, health visitor or GP. If you would like to discuss your experience, in confidence, with someone not directly involved in your care please email fv.mvp@nhs.scot and staff can put you in touch with the relevant person or service.

If you wish to make a complaint please visit the Feedback and Complaints section of the website.

How you can get involved

Each of our volunteers brings their own wealth of experience to the Maternity Voices Partnership. We have online meetings every two months on MS Teams and we also aim to hold a face-to-face event once a year to celebrate what has been achieved by the group and discuss plans for the future.

• No prior experience is required other than your experience of  using local maternity and/or neonatal services in NHS Forth Valley.
• All contributions are welcome – either through commenting on draft proposals, sharing your feedback, ideas and suggestions or attending the MVP meetings and contributing to the discussions.
• New members are always welcome to attend the MVP meetings and contribute to specific areas for improvements based on the feedback received.

If you would like to get involved please email:  fv.mvp@nhs.scot

How do I share my views?

We value your feedback and use it to identify common themes and inform future changes and improvements. Our staff also find feedback useful as it let’s them know when they are getting it right and when they could do better.

You can provide feedback in a number of ways:

In writing

Complete a comments card and give it to a member of staff or post it in a comments box.

Write to our Patient Relations Department at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Stirling Road, Larbert FK5 4WR. You may also be asked to take part in a patient survey to capture feedback.

Online

Visit Care Opinion – an independent website where you can share your experiences of local healthcare and health services. We promise to view and respond to all comments posted by local patients.

You can also provide general comments direct to us via email using our feedback form.

By Phone

You can speak directly to a member of staff in a ward or clinic or contact our Patient Relations Department on 01324 566660.

Current Priorities

• Supporting decision-making: continue to look at how best to support women when they are making decisions about their care by ensuring they get the right information from NHS staff at the right time.
• Giving everybody a voice: running a number of initiatives to ensure families of all backgrounds are represented and can participate in work to improve local services.
• Induction of labour: developing information to highlight the options available at each stage of an induction, including the decision to have an induction or not, and supporting service changes to improve the process.
• Birth options – develop a new information leaflet on choices for place of birth, including the option of having a home birth.

Future Plans

• Continue to give parents more options to have their say by developing new ways to feedback, e.g. through online surveys and local community events.
• Start a working group on birth choices, including having a vaginal birth after a caesarean section.
• Continue to help improve information and communication from NHS Forth Valley and find better ways of sharing information.
• Continue to listen to your views to help improve and develop local services.

If you’d like to know more about what we are doing and what goes on at the MVP meetings please get in touch and we can provide more information, including minutes of previous meetings, by emailing fv.mvp@nhs.scot

When do we meet?

The Maternity Voices Partnership meetings are held online every two months (contact fv.mvp@nhs.scot for dates and links to future meetings or see the dates below) and provide an opportunity for parents and representatives of parents support groups to meet with midwives and other maternity and neonatal staff.

Topics range from care during pregnancy, antenatal scans, parenthood classes to care in labour, infant feeding choices and the care of mothers and babies once they are back home. The group reviews what information is available to help mothers and their partners decide what is best for themselves and their baby.

The group also makes recommendations to senior clinical staff  and to the Health Board and follows up any actions that have been agreed.