Primary Maternity Services Notice 2021 - Guide

This document provides a guide to the Primary Maternity Services Notice 2021 (the Notice). This document is designed to assist authorised providers of primary maternity services in understanding the Notice and how this Notice has changed from the Primary Maternity Services Notice issued in 2007 (the 2007 Notice).

The Notice includes changes to the current service specifications, quality requirements and claiming processes. Changes to the Notice include:

• encouraging early engagement and continuity of care from the first trimester by remunerating registration and first trimester care
• funding rural practice and travel more equitably
• remunerating Lead Maternity Carers for the extra care they provide to women with complex social or clinical needs
• more effective funding for the care of women who are over-represented in poor outcome statistics
• funding the care associated with a second trimester pregnancy loss
• contributing more equitably to the return transfer costs involved for practitioners who accompany a woman or her baby in an air or road ambulance.

A complete mapping of clauses between the 2007 Notice and the 2021 Notice is attached to this guide as Appendix 1.

A complete mapping of definitions used across the 2007 and 2021 Notices is attached to this guide as Appendix 2.

Appendix 3 contains a step-by-step guide to looking up an urban accessibility (UA) classification.

Appendix 4 contains the "Additional care supplement criteria", as at 29 November 2021.

Appendix 5 provides information about the new "Transfer support" module and outlines the spoke and hub model.

A collection of all the claiming and practice scenarios used throughout this Guide is available in Appendix 6.