Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate

What is a Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate?

The Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate (also referred to as Maternity and Neonatal ISA or MNISA) is a new senior role being piloted to support women, birthing people and families in England. This follows the Immediate and Essential Actions identified in the Ockenden review into maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital.

This role was developed by NHS England working alongside people who have experienced adverse outcomes and NHS staff.

Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates help ensure the voices of women and families are listened to, heard and acted upon by their maternity and neonatal care providers when they have experienced an adverse outcome during their maternity and/or neonatal care.

Who is my Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate?

The Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate for Somerset is Jane Innes. Jane has worked with the NHS in different roles for over 30 years, working as a nurse, before continuing her career as a lawyer working in healthcare.

Jane has knowledge and understanding of NHS processes and systems and can support you to feel heard by those who have provided your care.

Contact Jane on 07554 114491

Email: somicb.mnisa@nhs.net

By scanning this QR code with the camera in a mobile phone you can access the link to the referral portal. A member of staff can help you do this.

Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate Referral Portal FINAL

Maternity and Neonatal ISA Referral Portal

Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates Consent Form

How can a Maternity and Neonatal ISA support me?

If during your maternity or neonatal care in Somerset you have experienced an adverse outcome you can go to a Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate for help.

Recent reports and inquiries into maternity and neonatal care identify a range of adverse outcomes that can occur during care. During the initial pilot phase, the MNISA might be able to support you if you have experienced any of the following adverse outcomes:

Your baby has died before they were born after 24 weeks of your pregnancy.

Your baby has died in the days or weeks after they were born.
The baby’s mother has died.

You had an unexpected or unplanned removal of your womb (within 6 weeks of giving birth).
You had an unexpected admission to the critical or intensive care unit.
Your baby was diagnosed with a brain injury or a brain injury was suspected.

If you have experienced any of these outcomes, your advocate is here for you and your family and can:

help and support you and your family to be listened to and heard by your maternity and neonatal care providers.
attend meetings with you.
support you through the maternity and neonatal healthcare system to help you find understand what happened in your care.
support you through investigation and complaints processes.

You do not need to be sure if there were mistakes or negligence in the mother or baby’s care to ask for support. If the advocate is not best placed to support you as part of their role, they will signpost you to other support services available.

A Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate may not be best placed to help you if:

all your avenues of investigation or complaint have been concluded
your concerns are solely about your birth choices rather than from an adverse outcome
you have any general queries related to maternity and neonatal services.

How is a Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate independent?

A Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate is independent from the trust that provided your care. We understand that you may be worried about asking questions/raising concerns about your care. Jane has not worked locally. She is employed by the ICB, to keep her independent from the hospitals that may have provided maternity or neonatal care to you or your family and reports to them. Jane will keep your information safe and will not share it with anyone without asking your permission first.

Everything you say to your Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate is confidential unless you ask or agree with them to share it with others. The only exception to this is if they have a safeguarding concern about you, or your family’s welfare or if there is an overriding public interest.

What happens at the end of the pilot?

At the end of the pilot, if your case is still ongoing, a follow up support plan will be discussed with you.

As this is a pilot scheme, there are currently no alternate Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates if you do not feel that your Advocate is the right person for you. However, if you have a complaint about your Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate then you can contact NHS Somerset ICB Complaints on somicb.complaints@nhs.net or by calling 0800 0851067.