We are a partnership of NHS organisations who work with women, their families and healthcare staff to improve maternity and neonatal services

Vision and Ambition

Our vision is for maternity and neonatal services across the North East and North Cumbria, to become safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family friendly. Where every woman has access to information to enable her to make decisions about her care. Where she and her baby can access support that is centred around their individual needs and circumstances.

Our ambition is to be the safest place to be pregnant, give birth and transition into parenthood. All women who use our maternity services should receive the best care possible, which is why we are committed to reducing health inequalities and our Equity and Equality Plan sets out how we will do this.

More about us

Three Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services

In March 2023, the Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services was published by NHS England.

This plan sets out how the NHS will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families.

The plan focuses on four high level themes:

1. Listening to women and families with compassion
2. Supporting our workforce
3. Developing and sustaining a culture of safety
4. Meeting and improving standards and structures

Read the summary of the three-year plan and the roles and responsibilities of the LMNS and our partners.

North East and North Cumbria: Maternity and Neonatal Alliance

The North East and North Cumbria Maternity and Neonatal Alliance brings together people from across the North East and Cumbria. We are working together towards been the safest place to be pregnant, give birth and transition into parenthood.

The Alliance works together to:

• Have a single vision across the North East and North Cumbria maternity and neonatal system

• Ensure the Alliance reflects and compliments the Integrated Care Partnership Strategy

• Be expertly led

• Ensure quality and improvement are at the heart of the alliance

• Improve outcomes for women, babies, and their families

• Embed an evidence-based prevention approach to better support women and their families before, during and after pregnancy

• Reduce inequalities in access, experience and outcomes associated with maternal and neonatal healthcare, so we contribute to reductions in wider health inequalities

• Ensure co-production with service users, stakeholders and staff in all its work

• Promote learning and development

• Have a clear communication strategy regarding its purpose

• Support development and improvement of pathways of care

• Create a single data environment to help facilitate the Alliance being evidence led with one version of the truth

LMNS Governance

The below diagram outlined the current LMNS governance structure which consists of the following key groups:

• North East and North Cumbria Maternity and Neonatal Alliance

• LMNS Board

• LMNS Steering Groups

• LMNS Clinical Expert and Advisory Groups

• LMNS Delivery Groups

• North East and North Cumbria Communities of Practice

LMNS Meeting Group Diagram

North East and North Cumbria Local Maternity and Neonatal System Board

The North East and North Cumbria Local Maternity and Neonatal System Board brings together and ensures co-production with commissioners, providers, service users and its wider partners.

The board’s role is to design and deliver maternity and neonatal care in line with the Three Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care, with a common ambition to make the North East and North Cumbria to be the safest place to be pregnant, give birth and transition into parenthood.

The aims of the NENC LMNS Board are to:

• Develop a strong cohesive maternity and neonatal system

• Bring together providers involved within maternity and neonatal care ensuring the services are person-centred, safe and of a high quality for mothers and babies through pregnancy, birth and postnatal period

• Reducing variation and health inequalities in maternity and neonatal services across the North East and North Cumbria