Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate

If during your maternity or neonatal care in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, you have experienced an adverse outcome you can go to a Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate for help.

Recent reports and inquiries into maternity and neonatal care identify a range of adverse outcomes that can occur during care. During the initial pilot phase, the MNISA might be able to support you if you have experienced any of the following adverse outcomes:

• Your baby died before they were born, after 24 weeks of pregnancy (known as stillbirth).
• Your baby died in the first 28 days of life.
• The baby's mother or birthing parent died within a year of the birth.
• You had an unexpected removal of your womb (hysterectomy) within 6 weeks of giving birth.
• You were cared for in the critical or intensive care unit and this wasn't planned.
• Your baby has or might have a brain injury.

If you have experienced any of these outcomes, your advocate is here for you and your family and can:

• Help and support you and your family to be listened to and heard by your maternity and neonatal care providers.
• Attend meetings with you.
• Support you through the maternity and neonatal healthcare system to help you understand what happened in your care.
• Support you through investigation and complaints processes.

You do not need to be sure if there were mistakes or negligence in the mother or baby’s care to ask for support. If the advocate is not best placed to support you as part of their role, they will signpost you to other support services available.

Your local Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate is Sascha Webb.

Sascha has worked in health for a long time and really cares about supporting women, birthing people and families through difficult times.

Sascha understands how hard it is to share your experiences. She can help you understand things, feel listened to and heard so that improvements can be made for the future.

You can contact your Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate by calling, emailing, writing to them, or filling out a referral form using the details below. You can also ask any health or support professional to contact us on your behalf.

Telephone call or Text: 07557 203 965
Email: bswicb.mnisa@nhs.net
Writing to: Sascha Webb, Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate, Jenner House, Avon Way, Langley Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1GG.

The service is free of charge and interpreters are available if needed.

You don’t have to use a Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate if you do not want to, and you can stop contact at any time without giving a reason.

A Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate is independent from the trust that provided your care, so families can be confident that they are fair and impartial. They report to the local Integrated Care Board, which is responsible for the provision of all care in your area.

Everything you say to your Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate is confidential unless you ask or agree with them to share it with others. The only exception to this is if they have a safeguarding concern about you, or your family’s welfare or you share something that would pose a risk to you or another member of public.

The advocate may not be best placed to help if your concerns are solely about your birth choices rather than the adverse outcome, or if you have any general enquiries related to maternity and neonatal services.

A Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate may not be best placed to help you if:

• All your avenues of investigation or complaint have been concluded.
• Your concerns are solely about your birth choices rather than from an adverse outcome.
• You have any general queries related to maternity and neonatal services.

If you and the Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate think that you still need support, a plan will be discussed with you.  

If you do not feel that your Advocate is the right person for you, there are currently no alternative options during this pilot.

If you have a complaint about your Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate then you can contact The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and Complaints Service by phone 0300 561 0250 or by email.

Please refer to the Privacy Notice. 

Please visit the Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate padlet for more information and other sources of support.