RCM launches continuity of carer board game

By Juliette Astrup on 05 October 2018 Midwifery Continuity of Carer - MCOC RCM Annual Conference

A board game to support midwives and maternity services to move towards more continuity of care and carer is being launched today at the RCM annual conference.

The game is called Continuity Counts and has been extensively piloted in Scotland. It aims to help teams of midwives spend time exploring what a year might feel like providing continuity of carer, with each midwife holding a caseload of around 35 women. 
 
It’s hoped that it will help teams to understand more about providing continuity across the woman’s journey through pregnancy. It will also encourage discussions about how they might choose to manage their time as a team.
 
The game is going to be available across the UK first through RCM national and regional officers and then through them to RCM workplace representatives and branch officers.
 
The board game joins the RCM’s other continuity initiatives including an online learning module on the RCM’s i-learn platform and the RCM position statement on continuity of carer.

The organisation has also been holding workshops on continuity in trusts and boards across the UK.

Continuity of care and carer is a key element of the Better births national maternity review for England. The Best start review in Scotland also recommends that continuity of carer be used as the central model of care.

RCM Scotland director Mary Ross-Davie said: ‘The evidence shows that continuity of carer works. It works for women and it enables midwives and their maternity colleagues to deliver better and safer care.
 
‘The board game is a fun way to look at and engage with this increasingly important way of working. And it really does work and help teams think seriously about how they can implement continuity in their teams and workplaces.’