Developing the role of midwives as 'contraceptive champions' to support early access to effective postnatal contraception for women

Abstract

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Objective To evaluate the acceptability of the new contraceptive champion role to the first hospital and community midwives in NHS Lothian trained in this role. Design Health service evaluation. Population Hospital and community midwives trained as contraceptive champions, NHS Lothian, Scotland, UK. Methods Qualitative research: 1:1 semi-structured interviews (baseline and follow-up) with five contraceptive champions. Main outcome measure Qualitative data on views of the new contraceptive champions on the first 6 months of the role. Results All contraceptive champions stated increased confidence in their knowledge of postnatal contraception. They reported that women had not questioned the role of midwives in inserting contraceptive implants postnatally in hospital and at home. Midwife colleagues and hospital doctors had been supportive. Conclusion The new role of contraceptive champion is reported by midwives to have been well received in its first year by women, the midwives themselves and their healthcare colleagues.