There is so much we still need to learn and understand about maternity care, that has limited or no evidence behind it. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is running a national Research Prioritisation Project to establish the most important priorities for research going forward. What do you think these should be? Jenny Cunningham, research advisor RCM and project lead with Dr Jude Field, invites us all to contribute.
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The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is working with the James Lind Alliance (JLA) on an important national project to find the UK’s top 10 research priorities for midwifery practice and maternity care.
The JLA’s work is to identify and prioritise unanswered questions or evidence uncertainties with healthcare professionals and those they care for. For our project, this means midwives, student midwives, maternity support workers, maternity care assistants and midwifery organisations, women, pregnant people, their families, supporters and service user organisations.
The top 10 priorities will be used to improve maternity care for women, birthing parents and their babies by:
- Influencing funding bodies, such as the NIHR, to fund more midwifery and maternity research
- Influencing policy makers about relevant gaps in evidence
- Supporting midwifery researchers to identify topics
You may have completed our first survey last year in which we asked respondents to tell us what is important to them and where they think the gaps in evidence are. We received 946 responses to our survey, which added up to over 3,000 questions and suggestions about a whole range of issues and topics that affect women, families, midwives and maternity support workers. The responses included questions about midwifery care during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, as well as issues about education and those which affect staff wellbeing.
Survey two is now open and closes on Sunday 2 March 2025. Click here for the link to the survey – your voice is important!
The 67 questions that make up this survey were developed from the responses received in the first survey. We are delighted by how broad and rich the suggestions submitted to the first survey were, and how this has resulted in follow up survey that contains a wide range of questions that we hope will feel of huge relevance to those who see them. Respondents will be asked to choose up to 10 of the survey questions, for consideration in the final top 10 research priorities.
You need to be UK-based to complete this survey.
The results of the survey will be taken forward to the final in-person project workshop. This is being held in Birmingham on Thursday 17 April, and it is at this event that the final top 10 priorities will be decided. You can complete the online form to express your interest in attending the workshop here. The same form can be used to request that you receive the RCM project report. Following the workshop, the RCM will produce a report and use this to champion the top 10 priorities. The RCM wants to influence the funders of midwifery and maternity research which in turn will ensure that the right studies are funded and care will be improved for mothers, birthing people, babies and their families. Above all, the RCM wants to influence those who invest money in research and ensure that midwifery and maternity has a fair share of the cake.
What you can do next:
- Share the survey to colleagues, friends and family
- Sign up for the workshop on 17 April 2025
- Sign up to receive the RCM’s report on the final top 10 priorities
Further information can be found on our webpage here
If you have any queries, please contact the RCM project leads Jenny Cunningham and Dr Jude Field via [email protected]
Dr Jude Field (L) & Jenny Cunningham (R)
Jenny Cunnigham, Research Advisor, RCM
February 2025