Fully evaluated study day for clinical skills trainers, obstetricians and midwives.

LOCATION:

The study day will take place in the Education Resource Centre, which is on the Ground Floor of Birmingham Women's. Tea and coffee will be provided but you should bring or buy lunch on site.

DESCRIPTION

This fully-evaluated study day for clinical skills trainers, obstetricians and midwives will provide an engaging and interactive update on professional skills to facilitate physiological breech births, planned or unexpected, and how to teach these skills to others. The focus is on collaborative, multi-professional working to improve the safety of vaginal breech birth using the skills of all maternity care professionals.

For practical questions about the event or venue, please contact Lucy Williamson, lucy.williamson11@nhs.net.

Training will include:

* A research update

* Thorough theoretical and hands-on explanations of how breech babies journey through the maternal pelvis in a completely spontaneous birth (the breech mechanisms), enabling you to distinguish between normal progress and dystocia

* Hands-on simulation of complicated breech births and resolutions, using narratives and videos of real breech complications, to enable you to practice problem-solving in real time

* Models of breech care that work within modern maternity services

* One year's access to the online training course & video resources following the training

Please ensure you create an account in the OptiBreech Online Academy and access the free OptiBreech Evidence Base 2025 online course prior to attending the training.

Facilitator:

Lucy Williamson is a Specialist Midwife in Breech Birth and Practice Development Midwife at Birmingham Women's.

References

Walker S, Das S, Stringer K et al. How safe is it to plan a vaginal breech birth with OptiBreech collaborative care?: analysis of cumulative data within the OptiBreech Multiple Trials Cohort [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. NIHR Open Res 2023, 3:61 (https://doi.org/10.3310/nihropenres.13500.1)

Walker S, Spillane E, Stringer K, et al. OptiBreech collaborative care versus standard care for women with a breech-presenting fetus at term: A pilot parallel group randomised trial to evaluate the feasibility of a randomised trial nested within a cohort. PLoS One. 2023;18(11):e0294139. doi:10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0294139

Shetty SS, Walker S, Fox-Rushby J, Managing uncomplicated singleton breech pregnancy using ‘OptiBreech collaborative care’ pathway: early economic model and value of information analysis, Value in Health (2025).

Davies SM, Hodder A, Walker S, Bale N, Vincent H, Dasgupta T, et al. The OptiBreech Trial Feasibility Study: A Qualitative Inventory of the Roles and Responsibilities of Breech Specialist Midwives. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. 2025 (online early view).

Vincent H, Walker S, Hodder A, et al. Barriers and facilitators for implementation of OptiBreech collaborative care: A qualitative study as part of an implementation process evaluation. Women and Birth. 2024;37(5):101656. doi:10.1016/J.WOMBI.2024.101656

Walker S, Spillane E, Stringer K, Meadowcroft A, Dasgupta T, Davies SM, Sandall J, Shennan A, Batish A, Davidson L, Das S, Magurova L, Haroun G, Meates C, Houghton G, Le Grys H, 2023. The feasibility of team care for women seeking to plan a vaginal breech birth (OptiBreech 1): an observational implementation feasibility study in preparation for a pilot trial. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 9, 80. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-023-01299-x

Dasgupta T, Hunter, S, Reid, S, et al. Breech specialist midwives and clinics in the OptiBreech Trial feasibility study: An implementation process evaluation. Birth. 2022; 00: 1- 10. doi: 10.1111/birt.12685 – The full study exploring the acceptability of proficient breech team care for women. Be sure to read the supplementary file containing quotes from women who participated in the research.

Walker S, Dasgupta T, Halliday A, & Reitter A (2021). Development of a core outcome set for effectiveness studies of breech birth at term (Breech-COS): a systematic review on variations in outcome reporting. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.

https://twitter.com/sheena_byrom/status/1659198509642563585?s=20

Additional publications:

Walker S, Daelemans C, Gerhard-Nielsen K, Das S, Page L. Variations of cervical head entrapment in vaginal breech births: New insights on how to prevent, manage and resolve. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2024;299:78-82. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2024.05.039

Bresson J, Christie K, Walker S, 2023. Not too fast, not too slow: A review of historical trends in vaginal breech time management. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 287, 216–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2023.06.015

Roy R*, Gray C*, Prempeh-Bonsu CA and Walker S, 2023. What are women’s experiences of seeking to plan a vaginal breech birth? A systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer r

Description supplied by the event organiser.