Annual Review
Improving care for premature babies
— Case study

Improving care for premature babies

The South West AHSN has evaluated PERIPrem (Perinatal Excellence to Reduce Injury in Premature Birth) to understand the effectiveness of using Quality Improvement methodology to support maternity and neonatal units in implementing this standardised bundle of care. We are supporting our clinical leads with the spread of PERIPrem, including to Wales.

PERIPrem is a collaborative project by the South West AHSN, West of England AHSN, and South West Neonatal Network, comprising a bundle of 11 evidence-based interventions for mothers and preterm babies that can be implemented by perinatal teams using QI methodology. It has been implemented in 12 trusts across the South West region.

Our quantitative evaluation, published in BMJ Open Quality, looked at how the PERIPrem bundle and QI approach impacted the uptake of the PERIPrem bundle in 12 NHS Trusts across the South West, as well as perinatal team culture.  

Our qualitative evaluation on the barriers and enablers to the implementation of PERIPrem was published in Research Square.  

Across 2022/23 we also: 

  • Continued to work with our seven local trusts on the improvement plans around the 11 interventions.  
  • Provided data visualisations from trust optimisation tools to PERIPrem teams and key regional stakeholders to measure progress and regional focus. 
  • Co-hosted a regional PERIPrem quarterly dashboard with West of England AHSN and the South West Neonatal Network so teams can check local data is aligned with national measures. 
  • Held and attended local and national share and learn events. 
  • Hosted a regional place of birth event collaboratively with the regional maternity team, Wessex and West of England AHSNs. 
NHS midwife holding a newborn

Our evaluation in BMJ Open Quality showed the PERIPrem bundle and QI approach increased the uptake of these 11 interventions across the 12 NHS Trusts, as well as improved perinatal team culture.   

By the end of the evaluation period, 26% more mothers and babies born prematurely in the South West had received the care interventions they were eligible for, compared to before PERIPrem started.  

Over the evaluation period 693 babies were born to 604 mothers. By the end of the evaluation period: 

  • Improvements (between 8 and 63%) in the delivery of 10 of the 11 interventions  
  • 26% more mothers and babies born prematurely in the South West had received the care interventions they were eligible for, compared to before PERIPrem started. 
  • Increase (55 to 78%) in the percentage of interventions women and babies were receiving.  

In our evaluation in Research Square, maternity, neonatal and obstetric staff reported capability, motivation and opportunity were found to be the three main enablers to implementation. 

PERIPrem won the British Association of Perinatal Medicine Gopi Menon Award for Best National/Regional Project 2022. In March 2023 PERIPrem Cymru was launched across every hospital in Wales by Welsh Government.  

Website Links

“The PERIPrem project is embedding data, evidence and evaluation into the core of its design and delivery. It’s one example of how the South West AHSN is supporting its partners to develop and use learning system methods.”

Dr Hayley McBain, South West AHSN Evaluation Lead

Open in new window