Maternity Voices Partnerships
What is a Maternity Voices Partnership?
Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is a team of women and their families, commissioners and providers, working together to review and contribute to the development of local maternity and neonatal care.
MVPs serve the needs of local women and families, gathering feedback and advising Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems (LMNSs), clinical networks and those commissioning services from a service user perspective.
All women in the local area should be able to participate in an MVP by giving feedback or becoming service user members. Partners and families may also wish to give feedback or join their local MVP.
Membership of an MVP may include:
- Maternity service users and families (service users should constitute one third of the group)
- Maternity providers which includes clinical and managerial representation (midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists, managers and from finance)
- Charities and advocacy groups
- Commissioners
- Statutory partners, including Healthwatch
Find your nearest MVP
Click on the map to find each MVP’s contact details.
What do MVPs do?
Across our region there are 10 different MVP groups who are all aligned to a place or a hospital trust. MVPs in each area work in partnership with their local hospitals to connect everyone involved in the provision of maternity and neonatal care. They are a place for women’s voices to be represented and they work on a local level to help trusts provide the right services, provide feedback and ensure the voices of all are heard.
There is a particular focus on supporting women from black, ethnic and minority background, in addition to people from deprived backgrounds as they are more likely to experience health inequalities and poorer outcomes. MVPs take an active role in how the LMNS works with representation on all key decision-making groups.
The MVPs help shape decision making and the way services are designed and developed. They can provide an avenue to act as a ‘critical friend’ and make sure that anything which impacts women and their families is considered. They co-produce policy and guidelines and support the LMNS and hospitals in communicating and responding to women and their families. They also play an important role in networking and connecting organisations and people from outside the NHS.
Each MVP produces an annual work plan which is aligned to their local needs.
