Innovating workplace
maternity management
in the NHS

A three-year university innovation partnership designed to improve the experience for NHS staff during pregnancy and maternity.

Research summary

2024 – 2027

The project aims to help develop a better approach to workplace maternity management, improving the retention of highly skilled and qualified staff, increasing productivity and efficiency as well as cutting costs and improving patient outcomes. It is the first of its kind in the public sector.

Innovate UK has supported a new management knowledge transfer partnership between the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester Met.

It is hoped that the experience of staff who are pregnant and taking or returning from maternity leave at the NHS Trust will be transformed.

Bringing together academic research and practical experience, this unique innovation will initially focus on registered nurses and midwives, two critical roles with a high staff turnover. The turnover can have a significant impact on NHS costs and patient outcomes.

Researchers will develop:

a maternity coaching process that will use the concept of ‘rhythm intelligence’ to enable nurses, managers and teams to work together to reconcile organisational, health, childcare and family needs during pregnancy, maternity leave and return to work so that women and wards can thrive.
an organisational change process will shape the NCA policies and practices so that better workplace maternity management is normalised
learnings what works where and why, which will enable wider change to workplace maternity management for all staff in the NCA
a new evidence base that will be communicated inside and outside the NHS to help spread learning and innovation

NHS maternity management project summary

Events

Brotherton, H., Rouse, J. and Wilkinson, K. ‘Learning How To Develop Rhythm Intelligent Maternity Management: Innovation and Research in a Healthcare Organisation’. Part of a Themed Session on ‘Navigating and supporting fertility and parental journeys in the workplace’, Work and Family Researchers Network Conference 2026, Montreal