ALCOHOL BRIEF INTERVENTIONS IN ANTENATAL SERVICES
Midwives may carry out screening and ABI delivery, or referral for ABI delivery to pregnant women, as appropriate, addressing health issues for the unborn baby and the mother which are linked to alcohol consumption.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran
For information about the overall approach to delivery of ABI in NHS Ayrshire & Arran email anne.lee@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
Antenatal service
Summary: Three specialist midwives have been in post since March 2010 – one for each Ayrshire locality, who have been trained in delivering antenatal ABI training for midwives. To date, all community midwives and a selection of hospital midwives have been trained to screen and deliver ABIs.
An ABI questionnaire has been formulated to use in conjunction with questions raised in the SWHMR (Scottish women’s hand held maternity record) document.
Systems are in place for collection and feedback of ABI monthly figures.
Delivery Model:
Hospital based midwives - Opportunistic screening and delivery of ABI
Community midwives - Planned screening and delivery of ABI
Specialist midwives - Planned screening, delivery of ABI and follow-up
Supporting Factors: Education and Prevention Team provide on-going support and guidance for the three specialist midwives.
Support from community midwives and community managers, ensures accurate screening and feedback of number of ABI delivered.
Challenges: Time for training is limited, especially for hospital based staff.
Funding for posts to continue
Priorities – ABI are added to a long list of tasks expected of the community midwives in their already busy schedule. For some it has been ‘just something else for us to do’ and this has been one of our biggest challenges.
Contact details:
Lorna Fulton
Specialist midwife (alcohol and tobacco)
NHS Ayrshire and Arran
lorna.fulton@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
NHS Lothian
For information about the overall approach to delivery of ABI in NHS Lothian jamie.megaw@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Antenatal service
Summary: Clear links were identified between foetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol use, which had led us to train nursing and medical staff within the Maternity Service to screen and deliver ABIs.
In the short term, the desired outcome is to embed the delivery of ABI into the core practice of antenatal staff in NHS Lothian at booking appointments. Longer term outcomes include a reduction in the consumption of alcohol which links to foetal alcohol syndrome.
Delivery Model: Opportunistic screening and delivery of ABI.
Supporting Factors: Lead clinicians in maternity teams were enthusiastic.
Challenges: Establishing electronic recording of ABIs.
Contact Details:
Eleanor McWhirter
ABI lead
NHS Lothian
Eleanor.McWhirter@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk