How well can your maternity and neonatal service evidence listening, learning and improvement?

MatNeoSIP and practical improvement in maternity and neonatal care

A grounded, evidence led approach to strengthening safety, culture and assurance
Maternity and neonatal services continue to operate within a complex and highly scrutinised environment. Alongside delivering safe, compassionate care, services are increasingly expected to demonstrate how staff experience is understood, how learning takes place in practice and how improvement is evidenced over time.

Download the maternity and neonatal improvement pack

Creating the conditions for safer maternity and neonatal care

Creating the conditions for safer maternity and neonatal care is a practical improvement pack developed to support this work. Drawing on real NHS experience, independent evaluation and regulatory alignment, it provides a structured, proportionate approach to listening, learning and improvement in maternity and neonatal settings.

 

Within this context, MatNeoSIP reflects a focus on helping services move beyond intent and towards demonstrable practice, without adding unnecessary burden to already stretched teams.

What the maternity pack covers

The pack focuses on the everyday conditions that support safer, more reliable maternity and neonatal care, rather than one off initiatives or compliance driven activity.

 

It brings together practical guidance and tools to help services:

  • Review and triage feedback proportionately, identifying emerging risks early
  • Create space for staff to share insight, concerns and improvement ideas in real time
  • Act on what is heard through small, achievable improvements
  • Close the feedback loop so staff can see learning and action
  • Build clear evidence for governance, assurance and regulatory review

Central to the pack is a simple Signal to Evidence model, supporting services to move from informal listening to demonstrable improvement.

Supporting tools to apply learning locally

Alongside the maternity improvement pack, a number of supporting resources are available to help services reflect on and apply the approach in their local context.

 

These include:

A short online checklist to help services reflect on how well listening, learning and improvement are currently evidenced.

Two one page summaries outlining the Signal to Evidence model and a practical 90 day rollout blueprint.

Together, these tools support teams to translate learning into action that can be prioritised and sustained over time. Within this wider framework, MatNeoSIP supports reflection rather than assessment.

Why this matters now

National reviews, regulatory expectations and independent commentary continue to emphasise the importance of culture, listening and learning within maternity and neonatal care.

 

Services are increasingly asked to demonstrate not just that policies exist, but that staff experience informs action and that learning is visible within governance and assurance processes. This includes being able to show how insight from the frontline leads to improvement over time.

 

Listening early, acting consistently and evidencing learning helps services to:

  • Surface operational and safety risks sooner
  • Strengthen psychological safety and speaking up
  • Support staff wellbeing and retention
  • Provide credible assurance to Boards, regulators and external reviews

The maternity improvement pack provides a practical starting point for this work, helping services build confidence through real, demonstrable learning that reflect everyday practice.

A proportionate, supportive approach

The maternity pack and supporting tools deliberately avoid alarmist language or unrealistic claims. They are not intended to replace formal reporting routes or suggest that any single approach prevents rare or extreme events.
 
Instead, the focus is on strengthening the everyday conditions that help maternity and neonatal services be safer, more resilient and more responsive over time.

Start with the full improvement pack

Download the maternity and neonatal improvement pack to explore a practical, evidence led approach to listening, learning and improvement, supported by tools you can adapt locally.