Education
| fourth Tuesday of each month | Moments in Maternal Medicine, 1315-1345 via Microsoft Teams. Please contact southwestmatmednetwork@nbt.nhs.uk to register |
Obstetrician Maternal Medicine Training
Obstetric trainees who want to learn more about maternal medicine can choose suitable modules in Pregnancy Care and/or Maternal Medicine in the new Specialist Interest Training during their ST5-ST7 years in the programme.
There is also the opportunity to progress to Subspecialty Training in Fetal and Maternal Medicine.
Details of both programmes are available on the RCOG website Careers and training | RCOG.
All of these options will be supported in the South West.
Obstetric Physician Training
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) offers a credential in Obstetric Medicine, which leads to a Professional Diploma in Obstetric Medicine. Physicians training in medical specialties at ST5+ may be eligible for this programme, which takes one year to complete. Bristol is a training centre, with a post based at Southmead Hospital (North Bristol NHS Trust), with time spent at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston. There is a national application process. Further details are available on the RCP website. If you would like more information about obstetric medicine training in Bristol, please contact Dr Neuberger via the “contact us” section.
Higher specialty trainee obstetric medicine credential | RCP London
Trainees in Acute Medicine can also select Obstetric Medicine as their specialist skill. The Society for Acute Medicine provides more information on specialist skills.
Anaesthetic training
Obstetric anaesthesia trainees who want further experience in maternal medicine, are encouraged to attend local and regional maternal medicine MDTs, maternal medicine antenatal clinics and high-risk anaesthetic clinics. At present, there are no formal maternal medicine anaesthetic fellowships in the region, however there are opportunities available in other centres such as in London, ranging from two-week observerships to six-month fellowships. Please get in touch via the “contact us” section if you would like further information.
Midwife training
There is a growing network of midwives who work in maternal medicine. There are many resources available online that can increase knowledge and understanding in this area.
Research
The Academic Women’s Health Unit (AWHU) is a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals and academics. We conduct research across a broad range of Women’s Health issues focussing on maternal medicine, and reducing pregnancy complications such as preterm birth and stillbirth.
Our research is supported by the Department of Health, National Institute for Health Research and a range of charities. Research projects encompass a wide breadth of both laboratory-based and clinical work to improve health, wellbeing and patient care.
We collaborate with colleagues nationally and internationally to develop and deliver ground-breaking, high-quality research and care, which benefits our patients here in the NHS but also increases care standards globally.
The team is led by a multi-professional research team with support from North Bristol NHS Trust, the University of Bristol and the Prompt Maternity Foundation.
The team has a wealth of experience conducting research studies and trials, and improving training, guidelines and patient outcomes.