Online launch event of the ‘CHERISH’ Labour and Birth Programme Development study

The ‘Co-development of a holistic, personalised intervention to improve experiences and outcomes of childbirth for those aiming for a spontaneous birth’ (CHERISH) research programme is co-designed by service-users, members of the public and maternity health care professionals.

The CHERISH project team is hosting an online launch event next week, which it hopes will help create a network of people to enrich the diversity and range of voices included within the project. The event will take place on Microsoft Teams between 11am and 1pm on Friday, 20 January 2023 and is open to everyone.

Anyone interested in participating in the launch event should register online through the Eventbrite page.

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the CHERISH programme collaboration includes City, University of London, the University of Nottingham and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). It is hosted by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The programme has been set up to do the preparatory work needed to create and test a holistic, personalised birth bundle. It has been co-designed by service-users, members of the public and maternity health care professionals to improve outcomes for those aiming for a spontaneous labour and birth.

The CHERISH project team is made up of a range of maternity services experts who all bring different perspectives, including maternity service-users, improvement campaigners, midwives and obstetricians.

Dr Mandie Scamell, Senior Tutor for Research and Senior Lecturer at City, University of London and one of the joint principal investigators said:

I’m honoured to be part of a project team that brings such a range of voices, including members of the public, to the maternity care research table.   We all know that inclusivity is essential to safety in the maternity services.  This is why our project uses co-design to gather the evidence on how best to support and improve outcomes for those seeking to birth spontaneously.

Dr Kate Walker Clinical Associate Professor in Obstetrics/Anne McLaren Fellow at the University of Nottingham and Consultant Obstetrician and Induction of Labour Lead for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said:

I’m really excited to work on this collaboration.  It’s a topic that needs investigation.  I want to be able to support women/pregnant people with high quality evidence to guide their choices around childbirth.

Find out more

Register to participate in the online launch event for the CHERISH programme, 11am to 1pm on Friday, 20 January 2023 (open to everyone).

The mission of the NIHR is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. It does this by:

• Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care

• Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services


• Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research


• Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;


• Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;


• Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.

NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.

CHERISH is an NIHR funded Programme Development Grant. Programme Development Grants (PDGs) are available for researchers to undertake preparatory work to develop a future programme of research.