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Newly qualified midwives highlight the lessons they learnt during their final year of training during the global pandemic [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the factors that contribute to the development of responsive intrapartum interpersonal skills and supportive personalised care during labour. They include emotional intelligence, the concepts of containment and reciprocity, and attentiveness. It also explains why effective interpersonal skills are integral to midwifery practice.

Kate Nash and Debra Sloam explore the benefits of critical thinking and the A-EQUIP model for student midwives [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to provide an overview of a collaborative service improvement project that was undertaken by midwives at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust to improve services for women in early labour. The labour triage line was set up to increase the consistency of information and advice provided to women in early labour and to enable women to feel confident in using coping strategies to help them remain at home during early labour. It was hoped that this would reduce the number of women attending the labour ward for early labour assessment and increase both women's and midwives' satisfaction with the service provided. A review of early labour services was initially undertaken to inform the project. This revealed that most women in early labour telephoned and were assessed on the labour ward with only a small proportion receiving advice about coping strategies. A survey of postnatal women found that the provision of calm, friendly advice over the telephone was reassuring, with more than half of the women surveyed stating that their experience of early labour could be improved through good telephone advice from a midwife. Following this, the telephone labour triage line was implemented and evaluated following a 6-month pilot. Feedback from women suggested a high degree of satisfaction with the service and a significant improvement in midwives discussing coping strategies with women in early labour. Other findings included an increase in the use of the midwifery-led unit and normal birth rate for low-risk first-time mothers. The triage line has now been extended to 24 hours and will move to the new midwifery-led unit that is being built this year where the outcomes will continue to be monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]