About us

What is Improving Me? 

Improving Me is the NHS women’s health and maternity programme for Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), aiming to improve the experiences of all women and babies. The women’s health and maternity (WHaM) programme is focused on developing a safe, high quality, clinically and financially sustainable whole system model of care for women’s services across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Our Main Goals 

  • WHaM will develop a safe, high quality, clinically and financially sustainable whole system model of care for women’s health and maternity services across Cheshire and Merseyside.
  • To engage in decision making about the services that are offered to meet the needs of women, their babies, children, young people and their families at the right time, in the right place by the right people.
  • To ensure care is centered around personal choice and individual needs.
  • To reduce unwarranted variations in outcomes and experiences by working together with local NHS, public and third-sector partners to reduce the gender health gap.
  • To enrich maternity teams through effective leadership, innovation, recruitment, retention and training and support for workforce continuous development. 

Our History

Early Adopter & Pioneer - Maternity Choice and Personalisation Care

In 2016 Improving Me was identified as a Maternity Transformation Programme Early Adopter site and a Maternity Choice and Personalisation Care Pioneer Programme – one of only two sites nationally to achieve both statuses.

What is an Early Adopter site?

A key recommendation of the Better Births report was that NHS England should: “seek volunteer localities to act as early adopters” to drive improvement for change and test new ways to deliver care. Cheshire and Merseyside was one of only seven sites nationwide chosen to lead the way in maternity transformation.

The experiences of the Early Adopter status paved the way for national rollout of ground breaking initiatives that deliver safer, more personalised care for all women and every baby, improving outcomes, and reducing health inequalities. More information.

See the Cheshire Merseyside Early Adopter Service Delivery Diagram

What is the Pioneer programme?

The Maternity Choice and Personalisation Pioneers were developed to test ways of improving choice and personalisation for women accessing maternity services.

In Cheshire and Merseyside, Improving Me was one of seven sites chosen to improve the choices available to women across what were then clinical commissioning group (CCG) boundaries. This involves empowering women to take control in decisions about the care they receive to better meet their needs and preferences.

Pioneers worked rapidly over an 18 month period to develop and test ways of improving choice and personalisation of maternity services for women in their localities. NHS England  drew on this work to  promote key activity for national adoption and adaptation as the Pioneers progressed, to support all areas of the country to offer personalised maternity care tailored to women’s needs and preferences.

Improving Me worked with seven maternity providers across the Cheshire and Merseyside areas. Click on the providers below to visit their websites to find out more information.

Joint Strategic Needs assessment (JSNA)

​Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) was commissioned by Cheshire and Merseyside Directors of Public Health of the Champs Public Health Collaborative to conduct a maternity services needs assessment for Cheshire, Merseyside and West Lancashire. It was refreshed in 2023. View the Maternity Services Needs Assessment Report