The Growth Assessment Protocol: a national programme to improve patient safety in maternity care

Abstract

Lack of antenatal recognition of fetal growth problems is one of the most common causes of avoidable adverse outcome. The Perinatal Institute’s (PI) programme of accreditation, training, and implementation of protocols in fetal growth assessment, has led to reductions in stillbirths in each of the three NHS regions that have implemented it, and resulted in an overall drop in Office for National Statistics’ (ONS 2013) stillbirth rates in England to their lowest levels in 20 years. This work has won the prestigious ‘National Patient Safety Award for Clinical Leadership’, and is now being offered to all UK maternity units, as the comprehensive, evidence-based ‘Growth Assessment Protocol’ (GAP). Here, the team from the PI explain the background, rationale and details of the GAP programme.