2006

A multi-professional team at Southmead Hospital in Bristol evaluated the effect of their local obstetric emergency training day. They compared maternal and neonatal outcomes in the four years before training and four years after the training had been introduced. It was found that the training not only improved knowledge & teamworking, but was also associated with significant improvements in outcomes:

• 50% reduction in neonatal hypoxic brain injuries
• 70% reduction in injuries after shoulder dystocia
• Improvements in Category 1 emergency caesarean sections

2008

As a result of the positive findings of the SaFE Study and also the associated outcome improvements at Southmead Hospital, the PROMPT (PRactical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training) Train-The-Trainers package was developed by a dedicated group of health care professionals based in maternity units in the South West of England, UK.  The package was designed to be used locally and to improve outcomes for mothers and their babies.

The PROMPT ‘Course in a box’ was published with the assistance of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG).   National recommendations for multi-professional obstetric emergencies training for all maternity staff in the UK, coupled with data demonstrating improved outcomes for mothers and their babies led to PROMPT being adopted by most units in the UK.

2012

The 2nd edition of the PROMPT 'Course in a box' was published with continued Train The Trainers (T3) Courses being presented both in the UK and internationally.

2017

The 3rd edition of the PROMPT 'Course in a box' was published with updated modules including the new and popular PROMPT CiPP (Care of the Critically Ill Pregnant Patient).

2018

The PROMPT team have been successful in securing a grant from the Health Foundation to generate a deeper understanding of the potential of Social franchising and Licencing models for scaling effective health and social care interventions within the NHS.  PMF will be supported by Spring Impact, who have been recruited on behalf of the Health Foundation, to develop a replication model for scaling up PROMPT from its original site.

2019

The ‘PROMPT Partnership Programme’ (Pilot) was developed in collaboration with The Health Foundation and supported by guidance from Spring Impact (a social franchise organisation), to develop an enhanced package of support, to address some of these implementation difficulties and support units to ensure the effective uptake of PROMPT to fulfil CNST training requirements.

Five maternity units were recruited to the pilot and the PMF team worked closely with these units to support the adaptation of PROMPT to their local needs. All sites were able to initiate training more rapidly and consistently than the previous ‘train the trainer’ model.

2020

The global COVID-19 pandemic meant maternity units were unable to safely continue to provide face-to-face learning. As a response to this, the PMF team developed an interim e-learning package, provided free of charge to all UK maternity units. This was taken up by  245 maternity units in the UK and internationally across 20 different countries,  and 40+ universities in the UK and overseas.

PROMPT staff were also re-deployed during this time to help in front line roles within the local maternity units.

2021

Annual Update – the first edition of the new Annual Update Package was developed and launched globally. This new package includes updated resources on six new modules for:

• Shoulder Dystocia
• Postpartum Haemorrhage
• Maternal Sepsis
• Vaginal Breech Birth
• Severe Hypertension and Eclampsia
• NEW - Impacted Fetal Head

T3 training was also in large demand, so the team devised and launched the PROMPT Virtual T3 course, allowing more staff from maternity units to join that we had been able to accommodate before. To date the PROMPT team have delivered this format to teams within the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada.

2021 also saw the team launch the new Pre-hospital PROMPT (PHP) training individual Learning Management System e-learning platform for paramedics and ambulance staff, which received a lot of interest.

2022

Due to the popularity of the Pre-hospital (PHP) training PROMPT resources, this year we have launched our new PHP Training Package, including physical and digital resources to localise and support the delivery of the pre-hospital maternity emergency training for the paramedics and ambulance staff.

This has been supported by our first virtual PHP T3 delivered in collaboration with our with South West Ambulance Foundation Trust (SWASFT) colleagues, who have helped us to develop these resources.