About this project

EquiBirth is a haPPIE project focused on improving informed consent and respect in maternity care. It supports clearer conversations between women and clinicians about monitoring, choices, benefits, limits, and what happens next.

This project is designed with and for underrepresented communities, and shaped by what women say they need to feel heard, safe, and able to make their own decisions.

Why this work matters

When consent is unclear, autonomy is weakened.
In maternity care, people are sometimes placed on monitoring or offered interventions without a full, understandable explanation of what the option is, what it may lead to, and what choices exist.

EquiBirth exists to change that by creating public friendly, real world resources that support:

• Clear information that people can actually use.

• Respectful risk conversations without pressure or fear language.

• Better trust for women from underrepresented communities who may already feel unheard in services.

How members are involved

haPPIE members can take part in different ways, depending on what feels right for them:

• Sharing lived experience through surveys, workshops, or group discussions.

• Reviewing wording and materials to make sure they are clear, respectful, and culturally safe.

• Co creating resources such as leaflets, short videos, community session content, and question prompts for appointments.

• Helping decide what “good consent” looks like in real life, not just on paper.

Members are supported throughout, including wellbeing check ins and routes to extra support if the topic brings up difficult feelings.

Where this work goes next

EquiBirth aims to turn what members share into practical outputs that can be used beyond the project, such as:

• Clear public resources for women and families.

• Training prompts and learning content for clinicians.

• Findings that can support changes to policy, maternity pathways, and service standards.

We will also describe what changed because of the project, so it is not “research that sits on a shelf”.

Support and care

Respectful maternity care with health literacy and clear communication. Psychological safety in PPIE and in services, training and workforce learning that is grounded in lived experience.

Support and care

Roles include Member contributors looking after our survey, workshop, feedback processes. Content reviewer to make sure all the content understandable. Co creating our resources and messages and Community connector, sharing opportunities through trusted networks.

If you want to help shape research that leads to change, you can also join the haPPIE Research Group. 

You do not need a degree or clinical background. 

Your experience and voice are valuable.

About this project

WOMB is a UK research and public involvement project about informed consent and fetal monitoring in labour.

Many women are placed on a CTG monitor. Monitoring is often treated as routine. But many women say they were not given clear, balanced information about what it does, what it cannot do, and how it may affect their birth.

WOMB collects women’s experiences through a multi-language survey and workshops. Clinicians can also take part through a separate survey. The project also analyses maternity data to explore unfair differences in who receives monitoring.

Why this work matters
When consent is unclear, autonomy is weakened. We want information that supports real choice and reduces unfair differences in care for underrepresented communities.

How members are involved
If you have given birth in the UK, you can complete the survey online in your preferred language. Attend one of the workshops.

Support and care
Roles are appropriate, clearly defined, and supported. Ranging from delivering workshops to spreading the survey link.

About this project
Can You Hear Me? is a national awareness and action campaign addressing glue ear. Many children experience glue ear before the age of ten. Despite being common, it often goes unrecognised. Some children are labelled as disruptive or incorrectly placed into additional needs provision when the underlying issue is that they cannot hear properly.

This campaign exists to change that.

Why this work matters
When hearing difficulties are missed or dismissed, children can fall behind academically, struggle socially, and lose confidence. Families often face long, frustrating journeys through systems that do not recognise the root cause. Early identification and proper support can prevent much of this harm.

How members are involved
Supporting awareness and education activities, shaping accessible resources for parents and schools, supporting survey distribution or insight gathering, contributing learning summaries that strengthen advocacy and system change.

Where this work goes next
Combines tools, community mobilisation, and policy engagement. Learning supports advocacy to strengthen hearing checks and access to support.

Support and care
Roles are appropriate, clearly defined, and supported.

About this project
Opti-Cord is a research study exploring whether very premature babies who need help with breathing at birth have better outcomes if they remain attached to the umbilical cord and placenta during resuscitation, rather than having the cord clamped immediately.

Research already shows that delayed cord clamping can improve outcomes for premature babies who do not need resuscitation. This study asks an important and more complex question about babies who do.

Why this work matters
Very premature birth is highly stressful for families and carries serious risks for babies. Decisions made in the first minutes after birth can affect survival and longer-term health, including brain injury. This research aims to improve evidence so that care decisions are based on what works best.

How members are involved
Ethical involvement only. Supporting accessible information, shaping community-facing resources, supporting feedback on research communication, contributing learning summaries.

Where this work goes next
A multi-site study aiming for a robust answer. Findings will inform practice and how research teams communicate with families during intense situations.

Support and care
Recognises emotional weight. All involvement is carefully scoped, supported, and grounded in safeguarding, consent, and compassion.

About this project
DREAM is a co-produced research and educational development project focused on digital record engagement and access in maternity care. It exists to ensure equitable access to digital health services for all women.

Why this work matters
Digital records should support people. When access is unequal, the gap shows up in missed information, missed care, and missed opportunities for early support.

How members are involved
Supporting focus groups or interviews with consent, shaping accessible resources, supporting learning summaries and evaluation activity, contributing reflections.

Where this work goes next
Contributes to funded research and learning. Outputs support improvement of digital engagement and more equitable access to maternity care.

Support and care
Ethical involvement, consent, and safeguarding are central.

About this project
Digital Inclusion supports people to get online, stay connected, and access the services and information they need. Digital access is now part of healthcare access.

Why this work matters
When people are excluded digitally, they can miss messages, miss appointments, and miss support. This deepens inequality and increases stress.

How members are involved
Supporting accessible guidance, capturing barriers and solutions, supporting learning summaries, contributing reflection entries.

Where this work goes next
Contributes to commissioned work. Learning supports practical improvement and better access pathways.

Support and care
Clear onboarding, support, and supervision.

About this project
Let’Us Talk is about creating safe spaces to begin safer conversations about gynaecological cancers.

Too many people experience fear, stigma, silence, or confusion when it comes to gynaecological health. This project exists to gently open conversations, share clear and accessible information, and reduce the barriers that stop people from seeking help early.

The focus is not on medical instruction, but on trust, confidence, and language that meets people where they are.

Why this work matters
Late presentation and delayed help-seeking remain significant issues. Delays are often linked to stigma, cultural silence, fear, or not knowing what is normal or when to ask for help. When people feel able to talk, they are more likely to act.

How members are involved
Supporting development or review of accessible information, shaping conversation prompts, supporting feedback gathering, contributing reflective learning.

Where this work goes next
Supports community education, awareness work, and the development of clearer routes into appropriate services.

Support and care
Approached with care, boundaries, and sensitivity. Roles are appropriate and supported.

About this project
ACT 20’26 is a support group programme designed to help people connect, feel held, and access practical support. Community connection is protective.

Why this work matters
Support groups reduce stigma, improve confidence, and create routes into the right care and services.

How members are involved
Supporting session delivery in safe roles, shaping resources, supporting evaluation summaries, contributing reflection tasks.

Where this work goes next
Supports funded delivery and learning for future improvement and partnership work.

Support and care
Onboarding, boundaries, and supervision are provided

About this project
This work exists to ensure baby loss support is culturally safe, compassionate, and shaped by those who have lived it. It is held with care because it touches deep experiences that deserve dignity and respect.

Why this work matters
Support experiences shape healing, trust, and future choices. Inequity in experience and outcomes must be met with honesty and action.

How members are involved
Supporting awareness resources, insight gathering with consent, developing compassionate information, contributing reflective learning.

Where this work goes next
Supports awareness, resource development, and safer support pathways.

Support and care
Sensitivity, boundaries, and supervision are central.

About this project
Light Shade focuses on improving communication and access so people can attend, understand, and engage with care. This includes making information clearer, more culturally safe, and easier to act on.

Why this work matters
Missed appointments are rarely about people not caring. They are often about systems not fitting real life. When information is unclear or not trusted, people disengage and gaps widen.

How members are involved
Reviewing communication materials, supporting feedback gathering, identifying barriers, supporting resource development and evaluation summaries.

Where this work goes next
Learning can inform service improvement and adoption of better communication approaches that reduce appointment non-attendance.

Support and care
Clear role boundaries, onboarding, and supervision are provided.

About this project
The Essential Baby Pack brings practical resources and education together so mothers and caregivers can make informed decisions in pregnancy and early parenting. It exists because knowledge should not be a privilege.

Why this work matters
Many families do not receive the right information at the right time. This work strengthens health literacy, confidence, and access to support.

How members are involved
Helping shape and review pack content for clarity, supporting community feedback, contributing learning summaries, and supporting evaluation tasks.

Where this work goes next
Learning is used to improve content, delivery, and access over time.

Support and care
Roles are appropriate, supported, and clearly defined.

About this project
This work focuses on validating inclusive approaches to monitoring and measurement. It exists because diagnostic tools must work for everyone, not just some people.

Why this work matters
When tools and pathways are not designed inclusively, risk is missed, trust is lost, and outcomes worsen. This work supports better evidence, better design, and better equity.

How members are involved
Supporting involvement activity such as interviews or focus groups, reviewing materials for clarity and accessibility, supporting insight summaries, and contributing evaluation and reflection.

Where this work goes next
Outputs inform future validation, engagement, and adoption decisions for inclusive diagnostics.

Support and care
Support includes clear onboarding, boundaries, and supervision.

About this project
GILD is a collaborative project focused on understanding and reducing barriers to participation in research and trials, particularly for communities who have historically been excluded by design.

Why this work matters
When research does not include the people most affected by inequality, results are incomplete and care pathways stay unequal. This project strengthens fairness in research participation by listening properly and turning lived experience into action.

How members are involved
Supporting engagement activities, helping prepare accessible materials, supporting focus group logistics, contributing to learning summaries and reflective tasks that protect quality and ethics.

Where this work goes next
Outputs support improved recruitment approaches and training materials for research teams to engage communities respectfully.

Support and care
Roles are clearly scoped, supported, and grounded in consent and safeguarding.

About this project
haPPIE SHE Cares brings together culturally sensitive, community-rooted support with digital pathways to strengthen maternal mental health. It is designed with communities, not for them, and it exists because too many women carry distress in silence while systems struggle to respond in time.

Why this work matters
Maternal mental health affects mothers, babies, families, and communities. When support is not accessible or not culturally safe, people delay support or never reach it at all. This project exists to close that gap with care, clarity, and community-led design.

How members are involved
Involvement may include supporting community engagement, contributing to resource development to reduce stigma, supporting evaluation and feedback loops, and shaping language and formats so they work for real people.

Where this work goes next
This contributes to an innovation pathway. Learning supports evaluation, improvement, and future adoption of inclusive maternal mental health support approaches.

Support and care
Clear boundaries, safeguarding principles, and supervision are built in. Reflections remain private and are used for learning with consent.

Enterprise Midwifery is a pilot focused on embedding an entrepreneurial mindset into the midwifery journey, from early learners through to workforce leadership. This is about widening opportunity, strengthening confidence, and building pathways where midwives can lead change, not just cope with the system.

This project matters because equitable maternity care needs a workforce that is supported to innovate, speak up, and turn real-world problems into practical solutions.

Why this work matters
We know that maternity outcomes are not equal, and the burden often falls hardest on communities facing access barriers. Workforce confidence, capacity, and culture shape what care feels like on the ground.

This project supports a more equitable future by strengthening the people at the heart of maternity care.

How members are involved
Depending on the role available, involvement may include supporting content development, helping shape inclusive teaching materials, supporting evaluation and feedback gathering, and contributing reflection entries that strengthen programme quality.

Where this work goes next
This contributes to a wider learning partnership with LSBU and Barts Health. Outputs support workforce development and future scale pathways across maternity services.

Support and care
You will be supported through clear onboarding, reflective supervision, and a role that is scoped and safe. You will always know what is expected and where to go for support.