Alongside our private therapy service, for more than four years the therapists at The Condition Management Company have delivered the Family Psychological Support Service (FPSS). FPSS offers specialist psychological support to families involved in the Independent Review of Maternity Services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, chaired by Donna Ockenden. You can read more about the background to the Review here.
The Review was commissioned by NHS England in May 2022 and began work in September 2022. Since then, our team has listened to and supported families across Nottinghamshire at all points in the review journey. As well as living with what happened to them around birth, many families have also had to find their way through a complex review process, where the risk of being retraumatised was high. The therapists working in FPSS have offered person-centred, compassionate care rooted in evidence-based therapies, and this work has further developed our specialism as a team skilled in both perinatal mental health and trauma-informed care.
The Ockenden Report, published on 24 June 2026, sets out Immediate and Essential Actions for maternity and neonatal services across England. Among the issues it highlights are persistent failures in listening to and believing families, the need for timely and accessible psychological support for families and staff after traumatic events, and the importance of communication that keeps women and families at the centre of their care. It also calls for a compassionate, psychologically safe culture in which staff feel able to learn and speak up. Change needs to happen quickly, so that the risk of future harm to families is reduced.
Drawing on what we have learnt through FPSS, we have built a training session that connects the recommendations of the Ockenden Report with practical, achievable ways to improve patient care and experience. Working with families involved in the Review has given our therapists a unique insight into what needs to change in psychological support and trauma-informed care. Ensuring this learning is available on a national level will support the continuous improvement expected in maternity and perinatal pathways.
Our training session, Improving the Maternity Patient Experience: Learnings from the Notts IMR, is led by Jen Moon, our Clinical Director, who has overseen FPSS since the start of the Review. It looks at how the words we use shape people's experience of care, how to approach difficult conversations and moral injury, and what trauma-informed practice and psychological safety look like day to day, including the cultural considerations that help reduce harm.
Agenda
9:30am to 10am: Introduction
10am to 11am: The Importance of Language and Communication in Care Pathways
11am to 12pm: Moral Injury, the Impact on Professionals and Having Difficult Conversations
12pm to 12:30pm: Lunch
12:30pm to 1:30pm: The Principles of a Trauma-informed Approach: How to Reduce Traumatisation
1:30pm to 2:30pm: Developing Psychological Safety: Ensuring Supportive Environments for All
2:30pm to 3:30pm: Cultural Considerations for Reducing Psychological Harm
3:30pm to 4pm: Questions and answers
Dates: Thursday 14 January 2027 or Thursday 25 February 2027
Time: 9:30am to 4pm, with a 30-minute lunch break
Format: Online via Microsoft Teams. Your joining link will be emailed to you before the session.
CPD: 6 hours, with a certificate of attendance
Cost: £165 per person
Places: Limited, to allow time for quality discussion and reflection
You can read more about the training here.
Tickets can be bought directly on Eventbrite. You can book a place on our January session here or our February session here. If you would prefer to pay by invoice or bank transfer, please email enquiries@conditionmanagement.co.uk with your organisation's details and the number of places you need, and we will reserve your places pending payment. Purchase orders are welcome.
We can also deliver this session for your team or organisation, online or in person. Please contact enquiries@conditionmanagement.co.uk to ask about rates and availability.
Every family deserves to feel listened to, respected and supported, and every member of staff deserves to feel safe enough to offer that care. The lessons from Nottingham are important learning points for all hospital trusts and clinical teams. By bringing them into everyday practice, maternity teams could make a real difference to how families experience their care, wherever they are.
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