Birthplace in England Research Programme
Investigators: P.Brocklehurst*, R.McCandlish, M.Redshaw, S.Petrou, J.Sandall, A.Mcfarlane, C.McCourt, Mary Newburn, Alison Macfarlane, Alison Miller, Louise Silverton, Deirdre Murphy, Rona Campbell, Neil Marlow.
Project Funding: 1) NHS Service Delivery and Organisation Programme 2006-2010, 2) DH Policy Research Programme 2007-2010, 3) NHS Service Delivery and Organisation Programme and DH Policy Research Programme Extension 2009-2011.
Research staff: Susanna Rance
Birthplace is an integrated programme of research designed to compare outcomes of births planned at home, in different types of midwifery units, and in hospital units with obstetric services. Birthplace will evaluate important outcomes for women and babies at low-risk of complications at the start of labour in a range of planned places of birth in England. A range of techniques will be used to collect and analyse data about processes, outcomes and costs associated with different clinical locations for birth and for different systems of care. These studies will answer questions about wellbeing, safety and quality, women's experience of care, the process of transfer from planned place of birth, and the cost-effectiveness of different systems for care.
- Jane Sandall is co-leading case studies have been carried out in a representative sub-sample of midwifery and obstetric units in 2009 and 2010 to describe organisational and workforce issues which may impact on quality of care in different locations including staff and service user experience of transfer between services and escalation of care.
Principal Investigator
Professor of Social Science and Women's Health