Maternity Quality Safety Programme

In 2021, a National Maternity Quality Safety Programme (MQSP) was implemented for all districts with a full time coordinator for each.

MQSP is a comprehensive programme for ongoing quality improvement in maternity services that is aligned with Te Whatu Ora/Kahu Taurima priorities for Maternal and Child Health. It includes:

resourcing the development and implementation of quality improvement projects utilising recognised quality improvement methodologies
supporting the implementation of national projects, eg NE Taskforce initiatives
developing the necessary resources to implement quality improvement projects, eg education resources
support the improvement of local maternity data analytics.

The MQSP governance group, is driven by local midwifery, maternity and medical leaders working together with maternity consumers to improve the outcomes for māma and their pepes. The group meets monthly and provides oversight and support for the MQSP projects and initiatives.
Examples of local projects and Initiatives implemented since 2021:

Mā te Mātau - Safe baby in the home programme for whānau
Implementation of the Newborn Early Warning Score Chart (NEWS) and Maternity Early Warning Score Chart (MEWS)
Implementation of the sepsis 6+2 Maternity Pathway and policy developed for eary recognition in a maternity setting
Project Maunga maternity and neonatal new build
Implementation of the National Hypertension Guideline with review of stock and medication administration
Equitable access to postpartum contraception
Equitable access to Maternal Mental Health Services
Monitor key maternity indicators by ethnicity to identify variations in outcomes & improve areas where there are differences in outcome
Co-design models of care to meet the needs of Māori
Ensuring Interdisciplinary fetal surveillance education for all clinicians invoved with intrapartum care
Ensuring cultural competency workshops for all maternity service staff
Use of the Health Equity Assessment Tool (the HEAT) to assess services for the impact of health equity
Ongoing Implementation of HQSC maternal morbidity review tootkit and SAC rating (maternal & NE case review)

Last updated: Wednesday, 2 August, 2023