Susanna Al-Samarrai, an obstetrician from Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, which runs Mansfield Community Hospital and King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, has been appointed one of 16 health professionals in England to lead a programme to help reduce the number of babies who die or are born with brain injuries during or shortly after labour.

The group, all of whom are either midwives or obstetricians from separate NHS trusts across England, are working with the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to look at how factors such as workplace culture and staff wellbeing can affect care.

Around 700,000 babies are born in the UK every year. The vast majority are born safely, but more than 1,000 will die or suffer a brain injury during or shortly after term labour. Many of these cases are preventable.

As part of the Royal Colleges’ Each Baby Counts+Learn and Support programme, Susanna will co-design and test new approaches to improve the safety and quality of care by examining how healthcare professionals work together.

They will work directly with women and staff at their own trust to test their ideas and will be supported to develop their leadership skills. They will use what they learn to help other trusts in England improve their working practices.

Susanna said: “I am excited to be a part of this major initiative. Staff wellbeing and workplace culture can often be overlooked when it comes to assessing standards of care, but they play a major role.

“I am looking forward to bringing my expertise to this project as well as learning from others in order to develop best practice for the NHS.”

The first project Susanna and her 15 counterparts will look at is around how issues are currently raised and handled in the workplace. The group will use evidence, including when issues were escalated and managed well, to develop and test a range of ways to promote best practice.