25 June 2024

An important project capturing the picture of local health, care, and education trends for children growing up in North Yorkshire has reached a big milestone this week with the 1,000th recruitment of a baby onto the study.

The Born and Bred in (BaBi) study was opened last December to mums giving birth in the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

BaBi works by collecting routine, anonymised data of the parents’ pregnancy and the child’s birth and then continues to capture data on the child’s health and development throughout their life.

The study aims to link data across health, education, and social care to create a bigger picture of families’ lives, maintaining a strong focus on health inequalities.

Reflecting on the achievement, Clare Jemmet, Research Midwife, said insights gained from the study will be invaluable in shaping future healthcare policies and practices, ensuring that every family receives the highest standard of care. 

The East Coast’s involvement in the BaBi study is particularly exciting as it places North Yorkshire on the research map, highlighting the importance of including diverse and often overlooked communities in scientific investigations.

Clare said: “Being involved in the study is a fantastic opportunity for me personally and professionally. This study is not just about collecting data; it's about directly impacting the care we provide to families in our community.  I am thrilled to be part of this transformative project, which will enable us to understand the needs of our communities and tailor our services to enhance the quality of care for the families we serve and advocate for. 

“The response from women has been fantastic. In my experience, they are excited to be part of a project that can make a meaningful difference for themselves and the lives of mothers and children, both locally and nationally,” Clare added.

This was certainly the case for local mum, Danielle Woodward, who explained that participating in the study was a “positive experience”’ and wanted to encourage other mums to take part.

Recruiting Midwife, Marie Home, added she felt supporting the BaBi study was important, as evidence shows that participating trusts have better patient outcomes for both their mums and babies and give women a choice in how care is delivered.

Paediatric Consultant, Dr Dominic Smith, Principal Investigator for BaBi, said: “There has been some brilliant work by the Research and Development Team to start up BaBi at our Trust.

“The Midwifery Team has made amazing progress in rapidly extending the offer of participation at antenatal visits and the response from local people has been positive.

“We are developing links with local university academic teams, health, education, and local authority agencies to work jointly on the project.

“The aim is for the benefits of participation in research to be available to as many people as possible and for us to build better evidence to inform decision-making on health and wellbeing for the community.”