Birthrate Plus ® Supporting safe staffing in the maternity workforce

Endorsed by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 2016

Birthrate Plus® workforce planning and real time staffing acuity tools use validated methodology to support the delivery of safer maternity care as required by the CNST Maternity Incentive Scheme
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The effective use of resources is fundamental to enable health care providers to deliver and sustain high quality services for people (CQC)

The Birthrate Plus® workforce planning calculation determines the required total midwifery workforce establishment for all hospital and community services, whilst the Acuity App assesses real time staffing based on the clinical needs of women and babies for intrapartum and ward areas. Together they support the provision of safe and effective care which is both sensitive and responsive to changes in acuity and workforce.

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Birthrate Plus® is the only midwifery-specific, national tool that gives the intelligence and insights needed to be able to model midwifery numbers, skill mix and deployment and to inform decision making about safe and sustainable services. Birthrate Plus® is based on staffing and clinical data that has been collected over many years.

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Important announcement

Ward Acuity App Relaunch Plan

Birthrate Plus is delighted to say that we are now at the final stage of our review of the Ward Acuity App. Our objective has been to ensure that the App fully meets the needs of services and to investigate whether any enhancements were required to reflect changes in practice and policy since it was first launched over five years ago. To achieve this, we have been working closely with a number of services. This has allowed us to make changes that will make the App both simpler to use and enhance its utility to services. Several services are now testing the revised version of the App and from the end of November we will be re-introducing it to all services – in a staged way. Phasing will allow us to engage with services to explain the changes and the rationale behind them and to answer any questions they may have. We know that the App is greatly valued as a tool to assist decision-making about staffing on wards and Birthrate Plus is extremely grateful for the understanding of services whilst we undertook the detailed work necessary to enhance it. This work is now coming to an end, and we are confident that the improved version will be of even greater utility to services.

If you are an App customer, we will be directly contacting you. If you are interested in finding out more about the App, please contact us.

These changes do not affect the Intrapartum App which should continue to be used.  

Please visit the Ward App review page on this website for the full statement, FAQS and further updates.

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Active licenses of the Birthrate Plus® App to date

Workforce projects completed in the last 2 years

The Birthrate Plus® Tool is totally unique and independent

From 2001 onwards, Birthrate Plus® has been used in all maternity services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and also in Southern Ireland and Australia

The Birthrate Plus® Intrapartum Classification System was first reported at the Research and Midwifery conference 1988

Birthrate Plus® Acuity App for Ward use 

In response to changes nationally in maternity services we have launched a review of the Ward Acuity App which was first developed by a profession-led Expert Group in 2015. We are again working closely with maternity services to see how the tool could be optimised to support safe staffing decisions.

Whilst we carry this review out, we are pausing operation of the Ward App for three months.

These changes do not affect the Intrapartum App which should continue to be used.  

Please visit the Ward App review page on this website for the full statement, FAQS and further updates.

Workforce Planning

How we turn your data into midwifery numbers using Birthrate Plus® methodolgy

Workforce Planning

Intrapartum and ward acuity tools

Using the Birthrate Plus® classification system to assess current workload and staffing needs
Acuity App
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The birth rate plus tool is now instrumental in our daily operations of the maternity department and our reporting on acuity and staffing needs. It clearly identifies where staff is needed and helps us to mitigate to ensure safe staffing based on the acuity of women and babies. The tool with its capability to collate the data and represent in graphics will assist when planning future resource needs and demonstrating this to our executive team.
The team from birth rate plus have provided wonderful support and training for our team in implementing the tool. This has continued beyond the early stages and they are available to answer queries and spend time with us as maternity leaders so we understand the data.

Head of Midwifery January 2023
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Working with the team from Birthrate Plus we have been able to improve our weekly and monthly staffing reporting systems and have been able to report robustly on the recommendations from the Ockenden Report.
Using the app has enabled me to have more insight into the data that we are collating daily
The team are always so quick to respond to our requests and have made the transition using the acuity tool across a 4 sited trust a smooth process.

 

Head of Midwifery November 2022
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Following implementation of the Birthrate Plus Acuity Tool for Labour Wards across all four sites , I would like to praise the app and it’s creators for it’s simplicity, user-friendliness and assistance in offering a snapshot of workload and acuity to all levels of leaders.

Maternity is a complex and dynamic service, with conditions that can change very quickly. To respond and act appropriately to this, we need tools such as this to present the situation as concisely and accurately as possible. The Birthrate Plus tool allows Labour Ward Coordinators to present their activity and challenges in real time, whilst providing an easy to use audit tool for senior managers. Alongside clinical and management actions, this allows us to better meet the needs of our service, and crucially our service users.

The Birthrate Plus Team have been instrumental in offering support and training to the team, to ease the implementation. We have also been offered weekly reports to continue to embed the app and respond to any issues to have arisen in the initial roll-out.

Overall, the Birthrate Plus Tool has now become an integral part of our activity planning pathway and we look forward to also implementing the ward tool very soon

 

Midwifery Matron November 2022
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Birthrate plus is the only midwifery specific tool that has given me the insight and data to model midwifery numbers and skill mix to inform my decision making ensuring that the service is safe and sustainable

Director of Midwifery June 2022

To ensure that maternity services provide safe, effective, and responsive care to women, service leaders need to understand the clinical needs of the women receiving care – and this is where Birthrate Plus® can help.

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