Preconception health – improve outcomes for families and babies
As part of our work to improve maternal and neonatal health in our community south east London (SEL) Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) is looking to pre-conception care. Through collaboration with healthcare providers, public health professionals, and local voices, we are committed to ensuring every family has access to quality preconception care, helping parents and babies start their journey on the best possible footing.
Background
SEL LMNS is a partnership of people working to improve maternity and neonatal services.
With this project, we aim to address health inequalities and improve outcomes by focusing pre-conception health. The aim is to support people to be physically, emotionally and mentally prepared for pregnancy. This project spans the entire SEL and it includes collaboration with public health professionals, community organisations and local communities.
We recognise that pre-conception health is an important contributor to maternal and neonatal health but also we know it is an area that is under developed and more could be done to educate and support people to plan for a healthier pregnancy, birth and beyond.
We are at the beginning of this journey and to help us move forward we have set some priorities. These are:
- Learn more about the needs of SEL communities through work with the Women's and Girls health hub programme
- Learn more about the needs of healthcare providers when considering pre-conception health care
- Raise awareness of pre-conception through the delivery of an information campaign
These steps will help us close the gaps and better support women in south east London.
Through workshops and engagement sessions with key stakeholders including local people the project began to take shape.
- We held two virtual co-production workshops
- We organised a face-to-face session with 15 participants to explore local challenges and opportunities.
This approach helped us to collect insight and develop an understanding of the existing gaps and the opportunities for improvement.
Each workshop has led to tangible outcomes such as:
- highlighting specific priorities for action and recommendations for addressing them
- redefined our approach and begun developing targeted interventions that respond to the needs of our community
Outcomes and successes so far:
- Identified local challenges in pre-conception care, especially with access to services
- Created new education programmes, health campaigns, and small projects to improve health
- Built partnerships with voluntary sector organisation and community groups to co-design support for those at higher risk of health inequalities
Next steps and how can you be involved
We are continuing our journey, and your voice is essential in shaping the future of this project. There are several ways you can get involved if you are parents with babies under 18 months or you are looking of expanding your family
- Attend our community events and workshops. We’ll be holding sessions where we’ll present our findings and seek your feedback.
1. Date: 18 November, 10 - 11:30am, Venue: Bellingham family hub, 109 Randlesdown Rd, London SE6 3HB
2. Date: 22 November, 10 - 11:30am, Venue: Bouncing Baby, West Street Children Centre, 174 Chandlers Drive
Erith, DA8 1LW
- Take part in a short survey and help us understand challenges as well as give us your ideas and solutions
Your experiences and recommendations are crucial to ensuring we’re making the right steps in our improving south east London pre-conception health journey.