Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) is a national initiative commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care in collaboration with the RCM, RCOG and THIS.Institute.

It has been co-designed with maternity service users and healthcare professionals and aims to significantly reduce avoidable brain injuries during childbirth by 2027 through improved clinical practice, teamwork and communication.

The ABC programme focuses on two key clinical challenges:

• Detecting and responding to fetal deterioration during labour (IFD)
• Managing impacted fetal head at caesarean birth (IFH)

By implementing tools alongside structured training, the programme is striving to improve outcomes and experiences for mothers, babies and families across England.

Meet the team

Eileen Dudley is a Senior Programme Lead and Maternity & Neonatal Safety Improvement Lead at Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley Patient Safety Collaborative. She leads the Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme and continues to practice clinically as a midwife. Eileen has held various positions within the NHS including operational, supervision and quality improvement and holds an MSc in Senior Healthcare Leadership. She is an advocate of multi professional education and learning together to improve outcomes and experience for families and safety in healthcare. Eileen graduated with distinction as a Multi-professional Simulation Based Education Fellow (NHS England South East).

Christina Aye is a Consultant in Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust. She is also Fetal Monitoring Lead for OUH and Director of Subspecialty Training in Maternal and Fetal Medicine. Christina is the Obstetric Clinical Lead for the ABC Intrapartum Fetal Deterioration (IFD) programme for HIOTV. She trained at the University of Oxford, qualifying in 2006. In 2016 she obtained her DPhil in Cardiovascular Medicine from the University of Oxford for her research into the cardiovascular development of babies who have been exposed to pregnancy complications. She was awarded an NIHR Clinical Lectureship and completed her Subspecialty Training in Maternal and Fetal Medicine in 2021. Christina remains heavily involved in clinical research as a Principal Investigator and is a co-investigator on several research grants including from the MRC and Heart Research UK. She is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford and the Academic Rep on the Thames Valley School Board for Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 

Alexa Burgham is a qualified midwife with five years’ experience at OUH, specialising in intrapartum care and fetal wellbeing. Alexa is the Midwifery Clinical Lead for the HIOTV ABC IFD programme. Over the past year, she has worked as the Fetal Wellbeing Lead Midwife at OUH, a role that has become one of the most meaningful parts of her career and has confirmed both her passion for fetal physiology and her ability to get far too enthusiastic about a good case discussion. Her work includes developing and delivering fetal monitoring education, supporting colleagues across all maternity settings, and contributing to regional quality-improvement projects, including the ABC programme. She works closely with multidisciplinary teams and remains active clinically, ensuring that her teaching stays grounded in real-world intrapartum practice. She also contributes to regional and national initiatives and holds instructor status in Level 4 Newborn Life Support. She is motivated by helping colleagues feel confident in recognising and responding to fetal deterioration, and by supporting safe, thoughtful, person-centred maternity care.

Nadia Muspratt-Tucker is a Consultant Obstetrician at OUH and the Obstetric Clinical Lead for the ABC Impacted Fetal Head (IFH) Programme for HIOTV. She is the current Quality Improvement and Risk Management Lead for Maternity at OUH, with a strong commitment to clinical governance, learning dissemination and continuous improvement. Nadia has a longstanding interest in simulation-based education, with extensive experience developing and delivering complex obstetric simulation scenarios. She contributes to regional and national programmes including ROBuST, PROMPT and mMOET, supporting high-quality, multi-professional learning. Her clinical and educational work aligns closely with the aims of the ABC Programme, particularly its focus on communication, teamwork and system improvement.

Ailish O’Shea is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and the Midwifery Clinical Lead for the  HIOTV ABC IFH programme. Ailish has worked in numerous areas within the trust and is now focusing on improving patient safety and experience, particularly those who are high risk or unwell. She has been working to develop the ACP role within the midwifery and obstetric teams and building relationships with the outreach service by developing a new training programme to enhance knowledge and confidence. She teaches on the PROMPT programme and contributes to new learning and guidelines within the trust. She is looking forward to supporting the implementation of this new teaching programme and improving outcomes.