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Heather Hopper, Sara Stride, Julie Geary and Kim Housham share their experiences of putting the new model of supervision to work.
AFTER THE REMOVAL OF midwifery supervision from legislation (NMC, 2017), each area of the UK was given the opportunity to develop new models of support and development.
NHS England developed the A-EQUIP model and invited NHS trusts from across England to submit proposals and thereby bid to become pilot sites to test it, offer feedback and inform decisionmaking regarding the final model (NHS England, 2017a).
Midwives have worked within the prior legislative framework of statutory midwifery supervision for well over a century (RCM, 2008), so this was a major change.
The HoMs from Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (TSFT) and Yeovil District Hospital (YDH) NHS Foundation Trust had already established an effective working relationship, and the trusts had recently been selected as a joint Early Adopter site for the Better Births maternity transformation programme. They were therefore keen to embrace the opportunity to become a joint pilot site for the A-EQUIP model of supervision.
Fundamentally different
Once the bid was successful, existing SoMs from each trust were invited to take part; 10 volunteered, completed the bridging programme and piloted the new model. The table below outlines the different elements of this stage.
The first day provided an overview of the A-EQUIP model (NHS England, 2017b). Initially, we felt as though we had been 'hit by a tornado'. This was probably due to realising the new...