Evaluating a post-birth contraception service delivered in hospital
Since 2020, national guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives has advised that all women and birthing people should have access to contraception soon after giving birth. This is because having pregnancies very close together can be risky for the person who is pregnant and their baby. Short intervals between pregnancies can increase the risk of:
- Premature babies
- Stillbirth
- Serious health consequences for the baby or the person carrying the baby, including death
Bristol’s St Michael’s and Southmead Hospitals have been taking part in the Post-birth Enhanced Access to Contraception in Hospital (PEACH) project. The PEACH project offers women and birthing people access to contraception immediately after they give birth.
By helping to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, the PEACH project has the potential to improve the health of people who give birth and their babies. It could also ease pressure on the health system.
Project aims
We want to know if people are more likely to use contraception when they have easy access to it from a specialist hospital-based service shortly after they give birth.
A specialist nurse-led service will offer advice on post-birth contraception during pregnancy. It will then provide the chosen method to people who give birth at St Michael’s and Southmead Hospitals, before they are discharged. We will ask those people to complete a short survey about their plans and access to contraception before they leave the hospital.
The survey has been co-designed by a patient and public involvement group and the PEACH Research Steering Group. We will run it between December 2024 and February 2025.
We will then analyse the responses to see if the PEACH project has made a difference. Our evaluation will be overseen by the PEACH Research Steering Group.
What we hope to achieve
Evaluating whether the PEACH project has been successful could improve our understanding of how the national guidelines around post-birth contraception could be implemented more widely.
Lead collaborators
- Filiz Altinoluk-Davis, Bristol City Council
ARC West Staff
Dr Rebecca Wilson
Senior Research Associate in Quantitative Research and Evidence SynthesisPartners on this project
Bristol City Council
The council plays a vital role in the health community as public health is part of its remit. Its role is to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population of Bristol. Its activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and it focuses on the population as a whole, not on individual patients or diseases.
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust is a dynamic group of hospitals in the heart of Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare, with over 100 clinical services across ten sites. They offer care to the people of Bristol, Weston-Super-Mare and the South West, and have an international reputation for cardiac surgery, paediatric services, oncology and bone marrow transplantation. They are the largest centre for medical training and research in the South West.