Nikki Glover, Senior Implementation Manager, UCLPartners
When it comes to keeping babies safe, the right information in the right hands can make all the difference. The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) collects and analyses data on all child deaths in England to identify lessons that can prevent future tragedies. UCLPartners leads the Quality Improvement workstream and created the Safety Engagement & Training Programme (SE&TP) to ensure these lessons reach clinicians effectively.
Why We Wanted to Listen
We know that maternity clinicians are busy, frontline professionals who often have to navigate long, technical reports alongside their daily responsibilities. Understanding how they receive and engage with safety information was essential. We wanted to make sure that NCMD insights are not just accessible, but actually useful in practice.
How We Approached It
To capture real experiences, we designed a short, five-question survey asking clinicians about:
- Their current sources of healthcare information
- How often they read research and reports relevant to their role
- Their preferred ways of receiving updates
- Their professional background and generation
We kept it short to encourage participation and ran it for 50 days. Posters with QR codes were sent to maternity units across UCLPartners’ footprint and in Bristol, and links were circulated via email to reach as many staff as possible.
We also offered follow-up interviews, giving midwives the chance to share their experiences in depth. This helped us understand the practical realities of integrating safety learning into daily work.
What This Achieves
This wasn’t just about collecting data for its own sake. It was about understanding clinicians’ real experiences with professional communications, so future NCMD outputs can support their practice rather than add to the workload.
By listening in this way, we can design messages that are clear, concise, and practical, helping healthcare workers focus on what matters most: keeping mothers and babies safe.
