Partners staying overnight project — Nottingham University Hospitals

The Brief

The driver for this project started back in 2018, when NUH received results from the annual CQC Picker Survey that indicated they could do more to support women who were staying in maternity overnight. NUH decided to introduce ​‘partners staying overnight’ and began a pilot project. The trust conducted pre and post-implementation surveys as part of the project with service users and staff and did a lot of work with health and safety, governance, safeguarding, infection control, patient dignity champions, and trade unions. The project was designed to make it easier for fathers and non-birthing parents to be involved in the pregnancy and birth journey while in hospital.

The Approach

As part of the project, NUH made a bid to the Nottingham Hospitals Charity to purchase five chairs for each of the four antenatal and postnatal wards, in total 20 chairs across both hospital site campuses. NUH then made the decision they would like to extend the pilot to every in-patient bed in maternity. This was to allow the hospital to welcome partners or a trusted companion to stay with any woman or birthing person who had to stay in hospital overnight. To do this, NUH submitted a funding proposal to Small Steps Big Changes (SSBC), who fund projects that are designed to give every child the best start in life. They are funded by the National Lottery’s Community Fund’s ​‘A Better Start’ Programme. 

One of SSBC’s objectives is to increase father inclusivity in the lives of their children. They had developed ​‘an information pack for new fathers’ in collaboration with local Nottingham families and other professionals and stakeholders. The project team trialled three different models of chairs with staff and dads in different locations within the maternity unit. The Boston was a clear winner due to the comfort levels, simplicity of use, and more generous size that was comfortable for taller men.

The Outcome

NUH and SSBC worked together to launch the two initiatives. Feedback from the project has been overwhelmingly positive from partners, and just as welcome from staff, who also see the benefit for both women and partners. The recliners work well for women who want to sit out of bed and feed their babies too. 

One new dad described the Boston recliner as a ​‘godsend’, another had a 6‑night stay on the ward and said ​“The Boston is very comfy to sit in for long periods with my newborn, its the next best alternative to sleeping in a bed.” One dad whose partner and baby had been transferred to Nottingham for admission to the neonatal unit said that he was so glad to have somewhere comfortable to rest as a 5 hour’s drive home every night would not have been safe.

Staff report they love the colours and the new recliners are easy to clean and can be moved without creating any manual handling injury.