Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS)
The LMNS is a partnership of people involved in maternity and neonatal services, working together to improve services, make them safer, more personal and kinder to people who use them. Our work covers Eastern Cheshire because some women and birthing people from Eastern Cheshire receive their care in Greater Manchester.
Members of our LMNS are:
- Midwives
- Obstetricians
- Service users
- Maternity Voices Partnership
- Neonatal staff
- Managers
- Commissioners
- Public health
- Educators
- Perinatal mental health providers
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations
LMNS Priorities
We are implementing the NHS England Three Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services by:
- Listening to and working with women and families;
- Growing, retaining and supporting our workforce;
- Developing and sustaining a culture of safety, learning and support;
- Implementing standards and structures for safer, more personalised and more equitable care.
Every baby deserves to have the best start in life and we will help by supporting good health in pregnancy. Reducing health inequalities and addressing differences in outcomes is important and we will continue to co-produce our work with people who live and work in the region.
How we know we are making a difference
We will know if we are making a difference by measuring our progress in the following areas:
- Reducing the number of still births
- Reducing the number of neonatal deaths
- Reducing the number of maternal deaths and brain injuries
- Promoting choice to women and birthing people
- Increasing the number of births in midwifery-led settings
- Ensuring women have personalised care plans
- Improving workforce retention rates
Our progress is reported to the Greater Manchester Maternity and Neonatal System Board.
The Greater Manchester Maternity and Neonatal System Programme Group is the most senior maternity and neonatal group in Greater Manchester. The Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership has authorised the group to oversee the quality of maternity and neonatal services and to monitor and identify variation and quality issues.
Fiona Noden, Chief Executive of NHS Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and Bolton Place Based Lead is the chair of the Greater Manchester Maternity and Neonatal System Programme Group.
Our projects
Patient safety
The LMNS is responsible for gaining assurance that local maternity services are providing safe, quality care, taking a proactive approach to learning from incidents and sharing lessons across maternity providers. There are different elements to our patient safety work.
Learn moreSaving Babies’ Lives
The Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle is a national tool seeking to address the variation in stillbirth rates by bringing together six key elements of care, based on best available evidence and practice.
Learn moreEach Baby Counts: Learn and Support
Each Baby Counts: Learn and Support, is a national improvement programme developed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Royal College of Midwives. It is being implemented across Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire.
Learn moreMaternity Voices Partnerships
Maternity Voices Partnerships are groups of women, birthing people and their families, midwives, doctors and commissioners working together to review and develop local maternity care.
Learn moreNeonatal services
Hospitals often have a unit or ward dedicated to caring for babies who require additional support after birth, which cannot be provided on the Maternity wards. The North West Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (NWNODN) aims to provide high quality neonatal care to babies and their families.
Visit their websiteNorthwest Maternal Medicine Network
The Northwest Maternal Medicine Network aims to ensure women and birthing people with medical conditions have timely access to the best specialist advice and care at all stages of their pregnancy.
Learn moreFurther reading
In February 2016, NHS England published Better Births, which set out a vision of how NHS maternity services in England should be improved. The Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Local Maternity System was formed in 2017 to implement changes in the region and it was overseen by the Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Strategic Clinical Networks due to their track record of building networks and improving services.
In September 2021, national guidance was produced, directing all Local Maternity Systems to improve equity and equality within maternity services and consider those wider determinants of health that impact on a pregnancy long before it begins. The Greater Manchester Equity and Equality Action Plan was published in 2022.
Although neonatal services have always been a stakeholder, in 2022, the name was updated to become Local Maternity and Neonatal System. The Greater Manchester Maternity and Neonatal System Board was also established in 2022 as part of the governance structure within the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership.
Published in 2016, the National Maternity Review’s report ‘Better Births’, set out a vision for maternity services across England to become safer and more personalised.
Click here to read Better Births.
Published in March 2023, the plan sets out how the NHS will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families.
Click here to read the delivery plan.
Contact us
If you have any questions for the LMNS please do not hesitate to get in touch via gmec.lmns@nhs.net
