What is the positive change that has emerged through new collaborations or partnerships during Covid-19 that your project is going to embed?

Covid stopped face to face conversations with mothers who smoke, drink excessive alcohol, have a BMI putting them in the obese category or who took recreational drugs. In addition, measurements which were possible prior to Covid, have been stopped, such as carbon monoxide monitoring for smoking.

These conversations are unique to each mothers situation, this application is to train a cohort of midwives in Health Coaching and to develop and share resources across Cheshire & Merseyside, and to embed practices across the region. The model will also engage with Health Coaches across Lancashire & South Cumbria, to build a network of coaches.

What does your project aim to achieve?

The project will train 8-10 people to become  “train the trainer” Health Coaches. During this training period alone, 240 people will be trained in the health coaching method, enabling these midwives to become Health Trainers. This course will allow these midwives to have engaging conversations. Having these conversations will help the mothers lead healthier lives, meaning a better start to the lives of their babies. Currently around 12.3% mothers are recorded as smokers at time of delivery across Cheshire & Merseyside. The England average is around 10.3%.

This will then a resource which can be used to train future health coaches, and will give the midwives confidence to develop programmes for each health issue to aid these bespoke conversations.

How will the project be delivered?

The project will engage Health Coaching training from an external organisation. These will learn train the trainer techniques, who will then train a further 240 people in the coaching method. This will create a community of practice who will be able to develop and share resources across the network helping to refine the offer to engage with diverse populations across Cheshire and Merseyside.

We will also engage members of the public to co-produce information in a format which engages a diverse audience, using technologies which are already used by target audiences.

How is your project going to share learning?

One of the project members is the AHSN who will be able to share learning across the AHSN network and the Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme. Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy is one of the drivers of the national team, where learning can be shared across the North West through the Patient Safety Networks.

The programme will also create a community of practice which will operate across the North West, with opportunities to engage nationally with the successes of the programme.