Caring for women with critical illness during or after pregnancy requires specialist knowledge, teamwork, and confidence. Yet many healthcare professionals say they receive little or no formal training in maternal critical care. That’s something the Maternal Critical Care Alliance (MCCA) is determined to change.
Why education matters
Every year, women experience life-threatening complications during pregnancy, birth, or the postnatal period. These emergencies can happen anywhere — in the community, in maternity units, emergency departments, other hospital settings, or intensive care. Without a shared understanding of how to recognise deterioration, manage complex physiology, and coordinate care between teams, vital minutes can be lost.
High-quality training helps to:
- Improve recognition and response to maternal deterioration
- Strengthen communication between teams caring for sick women
- Build confidence in escalation and transfer processes
- Support safer, more compassionate care for mothers and babies
What we offer
MCCA will provide continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for those involved in caring for sick pregnant and recently pregnant women.
Our programmes will be multimodal, practical, collaborative, and rooted in real-world experience.
Supporting professional wellbeing
We recognise that looking after critically ill mothers can be emotionally and professionally demanding. Our resource offering will include opportunities for reflection, debrief, and shared learning — helping teams to support both their patients and each other.
Get involved
Our goal is to create a national community of practice, sharing consistent standards of care and embedding maternal critical care training across all relevant disciplines.
Visit our Education & Training section for details of upcoming courses, downloadable resources, and opportunities to get involved. Together, we can improve outcomes for women, families, and the professionals who care for them.
