Process for transferring midwifery care

Objectives

Women to be provided with antenatal and postnatal midwifery care from a community midwife team aligned to the woman’s postcode (as per CBO postcode rules GGC postcode document Microsoft Teams link). This process begins at the booking appointment and should continue during the woman’s pregnancy. If specialist midwife care is required (Home birth team or Blossom) this should be allocated based on the woman’s postcode. All women are aligned to a consultant obstetrician from the booking appointment. When women
require consultant led care or input from the obstetric team, women should be allocated a consultant and subsequent appointments at their chosen hospital of birth (as per the SOP Redirection of Births for QEUH to PRM May 2024 Sharepoint link).

During their pregnancy women may move house to an area covered by a different community midwifery team or out of GGC area. This requires a robust process to ensure no interruption to the woman’s schedule of midwifery care.

The process for transferring midwifery care when a woman’s postcode remains in GGC and intended location of birth remains the same:

Identify the correct midwifery team and clinic aligned to the woman’s postcode using the GGC postcode document teams channel (GGC postcode document Microsoft Teams link)
Community midwife/clerical colleagues to make a follow up appointment on TrakCare with the correct midwifery team (note some teams have generic TrakCare lists for return appointments and others have individual midwives names. GGC postcode document Microsoft Teams link) advises of midwives in the team and is updated regularly. Provide the women with the details of the appointment and the phone number for the relevant new community team should they need to rearrange the appointment (PRM 0141 201 3438, QEUH 0141 201 2256, WMCC 0141 201 0141, IRH 01475 504 619, RAH 0141 314 7371, VOL 01389 817 232).
Community midwife arranging the transfer is to complete SBAR handover on BadgerNet documenting all relevant information to date (i.e. scheduled investigations, women has DNA’d appointments etc.) see appendix 1.
Community midwife arranging transfer is to email the midwives in the team, copying in the SCM (details in GGC postcode document Microsoft Teams link) advising of the woman who is transferring their care (Name, CHI, gestation) and that a follow up appointment has been made at xxxx community midwife clinic.
The SCM will review caseload sizes to see if the woman has been allocated to a midwife clinic with capacity in their caseload to take on the care for the woman.
The woman will have the appointment with the new community midwife aligned to their postcode, please ensure the woman has the relevant contact numbers for this team. At this appointment the community midwife should then update the care plan to the new named and buddy midwife. This will ensure the woman’s continuity of carer is captured for the remainder of the pregnancy and postnatal period (Tick “Yes” for scheduled appointment in the antenatal assessment).

The process of transferring midwifery care when women are booked in the outpatient department and require community midwife follow up:

The outpatient department should advise the women they require an appointment at the community clinic aligned to their postcode GGC postcode document (Microsoft Teams link).
Health records department to make a follow up return midwife appointment on TrakCare with any midwife aligned to the woman’s postcode.
The woman will have the appointment with the community midwife aligned to their postcode, please ensure the woman has the relevant contact numbers for this team (PRM 0141 201 3438, QEUH 0141 201 2256, WMCC 0141 201 0141, IRH 01475 504 619, RAH 0141 314 7371, VOL 01389 817 232). At the appointment the community midwife should then update the care plan to the new named and buddy midwife. This will ensure the woman’s continuity of carer is captured for the remainder of the pregnancy and postnatal period (Tick “Yes” for scheduled appointment in the antenatal assessment).
If the midwife does not have capacity within their caseload the SCM should be involved to reallocate the woman to a community midwife who has capacity.

The process for transferring a woman’s care from one consultant unit to another when the intended location of birth changes (from SOP Redirection of births for QEUH to PRM document):

From PRM to QEUH and vice versa - if appropriate for Universal Midwifery Care, update the Care Plan and change the care location on BadgerNet to the "Intended location of birth" and change the consultant to the consultant that is aligned with the woman's postcode. Contact health records at the new hospital for casenotes to be transferred. If a consultant review is required, make a consultant ANC appointment under the correct consultant at the hospital location intended for birth.

If a woman wishes the same consultant as a previous pregnancy, the midwife should email the consultant to see if it is possible for the woman to be allocated to that consultant.
From Glasgow to RAH - if appropriate for Universal Midwifery Care, update the Care Plan and change the care location on BadgerNet to the "Intended location for birth" and change the consultant to Dr Bollapragada. Contact health records RAH for casenotes to be transferred. If a consultant review is required, contact health records at RAH to arrange a consultant ANC appointment under Dr Bollapragada at RAH.
From RAH to Glasgow (mostly QEUH) - change care location on BadgerNet to the "Intended location of birth" make sure NT scan and consultant ANC appointment (PRM - Dr Bradnock & Dr Brace , QEUH - Dr Thomson) are made at the hospital location intended for birth and contact health records at the new hospital for casenotes to be transferred.
Only update the Care Plan with the “Intended care location of birth”, the “Hospital Community Midwife is Attached to” will remain with the community midwife aligned to the woman’s postcode who is providing Universal Antenatal and Postnatal care and should not be changed to mirror the intended location of birth.

Health Records
PRM - 0141 232 7442
RAH - 0141 314 6686 (maternity reception)
QEUH - 0141 201 2252

Community midwife arranging the transfer is to complete a SBAR handover on BadgerNet documenting all relevant information to date (i.e. scheduled investigations, women has DNA’d appointments etc.) SBAR handover to be completed by the obstetrician for women having obstetric led care. Obstetrician to email the receiving obstetrician with details of handover for women transferring. See appendix 1.

The process for transferring a woman’s care out with GGC:

Advise the woman to register with a GP in their new area.
Community midwife to contact the unit where the woman is transferring their care and arrange follow up midwife/obstetric appointment with the team.
Community midwife arranging the transfer to complete SBAR handover on BadgerNet documenting all relevant information to date (i.e. scheduled investigations, women has DNA’d appointments etc.) If the new area does not use BadgerNet the named midwife will need to handover the woman’s details to the new team via email. See appendix 1.
If the new area uses BadgerNet the new team can break glass and access the pregnancy record.
Once the woman has appointments with the new health board, cancel appointments in GGC. If the women is choosing to birth in GGC but is moving out of GGC, transfer consultant obstetrician as per the woman’s new postcode for women who have not had any contact with their named consultant the named consultant should change in line with their new postcode of residence (as per the SOP Redirection of Births for QEUH to PRM May 2024. Sharepoint link). If the woman has had appointments with an obstetrician and the intended location of birth remains the same, the woman’s named consultant should not change.

APPENDIX 1: SBAR Handover

A new SBAR handover is to be completed for all women (having midwife or obstetric led care) who are transferring their midwifery care during pregnancy to aid the handover of information. This tool should also be utilised when transferring women between inpatient departments and at the beginning of shifts.

Screenshots of SBAR completion process

Complete Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation with pertinent information then
press “Save & Close”. The SBAR handover will now be displayed in Full notes as below image.

Screenshot of SBAR summary in notes

When adding a new SBAR Handover, follow steps above. This will contain the information that was
added to the last entry, this can be added to, edited or deleted and new information added.

Last reviewed: 12/12/2024

Next review date: 31/12/2027

Author(s): Laura Paterson.

Version: 1

Approved By: Maternity Governance Group