A £10,000 grant has been secured by a new maternity project at St George’s Hospitals NHS Foundation.

Led by consultant anaesthetist Dr Emma Evans, the scheme will run over the next year and is a collaboration between maternity staff at the hospital and woman who have given birth in theatre.

The grant has been provided by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) for south west London.

Dr Evans said: “Women who have an operative delivery can tend to have a poorer experience compared to women who give birth in a midwife-led delivery room. This is especially the case if the decision to deliver in theatre has been made late in pregnancy or during labour.

“The sudden move from midwifery care to the more sterile world of the operating theatres can change the mother’s and family’s entire birthing experience.”

Using experience based co-design (EBCD) methodology, the project aims to help improve the experience of birth in theatre for both families and staff.

EBCD is said to enable staff and patients to work together and enhance care the care that is necessary to support a positive and safe experience of operative birth.

Dr Evans added: “Clinical staff are focused on providing the best possible care to patients, but sometimes we don’t always see things through the eyes of the patient and their family.

“We hope this project will help us identify areas that could be improved that we may never have thought of before.”

The project is in partnership with the Point of Care Foundation, an independent charity that works to humanise healthcare.