Market Engagement For a perinatal pelvic health assessment tool PIN

Concepts

• health services
• leeds
• pphs
• perinatal pelvic health services
• treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction
• evaluation of perinatal pelvic health services
• perinatal pelvic floor dysfunction
• pelvic organ prolapse
• self-assessment of pelvic floor function
• assessment tool nhse

Location

Description

NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) is considering commissioning the development and clinical validation of a perinatal pelvic health assessment tool. This tool will be used to support the successful rollout and evaluation of Perinatal Pelvic Health Services (PPHS), which aim to improve the prevention, identification, and treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction around birth. These services will deliver on an NHS Long Term Plan commitment. Background - assessment of need There is no systematic national data on perinatal pelvic floor dysfunction in England, but research suggests that about one in three women will experience some form of urinary incontinence after childbirth, one in ten faecal incontinence, and one in twelve pelvic organ prolapse. More than two-thirds of women with postpartum urinary incontinence and more than a third of women with faecal incontinence will still report it 12 years later, suggesting shortcomings in both identification and treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction nationally. A number of studies suggest that these issues are underreported. NICE recognises incontinence is likely to be "significantly underreported" because women may be "too embarrassed to seek advice", and a 2017 NCT survey found that 38% of women were self-conscious speaking about incontinence with a health professional. NHSE/I's Perinatal Pelvic Health Reference Group has identified a common misconception that pelvic floor dysfunction is a normal or inevitable part of motherhood. Brief for assessment tool NHSE/I has developed a draft service model for PPHS, which recommends that all pregnant women undertake a self-assessment of pelvic floor function at around antenatal booking, to identify those requiring immediate support, but also to raise awareness among all women of key symptoms. When repeated later in antenatal or postnatal care, the tool could be used to identify deterioration (or improvement) in pelvic floor function and give women confidence to seek specialist treatment. If the assessment is applied consistently across Early Implementer PPHS, it could be used to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of approaches. Used nationally, it could improve data on the prevalence and incidence of pelvic floor dysfunction perinatally. While a small number of clinically validated tools exist to identify and assess aspects of pelvic floor dysfunction, there is no publicly available, free-to-use assessment tool that covers all common perinatal issues.

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Indicators

• Contract is suitable for SMEs.
• Contract is suitable for VCOs.

Other Information

Please RSVP by Thursday 12 August 5pm with the name, title and contact details for attendees to Naomi Robertson, Project Manager - Maternity and Women's Health Policy Team, by emailing england.maternitytransformation@nhs.net