Health Education England elearning for healthcare has worked with Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Birmingham, the National Institute of Healthcare Research (NIHR) and the Royal College of Midwives, to develop an elearning programme that focuses on the different place of birth options for healthy, pregnant women who are at low risk of complications.

The programme consists of two elearning sessions to support discussions with healthy, low-risk women about the safety, intervention and transfer rates for the different options for place of birth.

‘Discussing Place of Birth Options with Healthy Low-risk Women’, and ‘Becoming a Place of Birth Lead’ are elearning sessions developed by midwives, for midwives, to support women in their birth place decisions. They are also suitable for others working with pregnant women, such as obstetricians, midwifery support workers and GPs.

The first session aims to ensure that midwives (and other professionals) have the essential knowledge about safety, intervention and transfer rates for different birth place options.

The second session is for midwives who have completed the first session and agreed with their manager to become ‘Place of Birth leads’ in their team, to support their colleagues in improving their place of birth discussions with women.

All the supporting materials for this programme have been written by subject specialists and experts in this field. The elearning programme is available on the elfh Hub, the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and via AICC links.

For more information about the elearning programme visit: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/place-of-birth/.