‘Coorie-In’ project carries off award
A Lanarkshire hospital team have received an award for their outstanding work.
NHS Lanarkshire’s ‘Coorie-In’ project scooped the ‘excellence for QI in maternity, neonatal and paediatric services’ category at the 2019 Quality Improvement Awards.
The award recognises outstanding work to improve maternity, neonatal or paediatric services in health care settings.
Maureen McSherry, consultant midwife, said: “There are massive benefits of skin-to-skin care in keeping the new born baby warm, and regulating both their heart beat and respirations.
“Evidence shows that a large proportion of term babies who are admitted to the neonatal unit could be avoided if a few simple measures were undertaken, particularly when babies are at higher risk of mild breathing problems after elective caesarean birth.
“Neonatal, maternity and theatre staff worked together to develop the ‘Coorie-In’ project, to keep mums and babies together, when possible, following a caesarean.”
The multidisciplinary team aims to help parents realise their ambition of keeping their babies close after birth to nurture their lifelong relationship.
They also wants to reduce barriers to implementation of immediate skin to skin no matter the birth experience, which remains continuous for as long as the mum wishes.
Small changes to the theatre gowns and mums positioning on the theatre table facilitate closeness of the baby.
Staff also maintain safety while transferring the mum to her hospital bed while maintaining unbroken skinto-skin contact.
Maureen said: “Since the establishment of the ‘Coorie-In’ project at the start of this year, all women attending for an elective caesarean birth have been offered skin to skin contact with their baby in theatre.
“We also introduced a dedicated pathway to help keep mum and baby together by providing steps of care that midwives can follow when a baby is under observation for a respiratory condition.”
Since the project began, the neonatal unit has seen a reduction of 89 per cent of term babies being admitted to the neonatal unit with respiratory conditions.