New research will shed new light on how a procedure to prevent premature births and foetal loss is being used across England.
The study will show the tensions and politics involved with the cervical stitch, which has been routinely used in the country since the 1950s. It will show the perspectives of health staff and parents and help inform future practice.
The cervical stitch involves the cervix at the opening of the uterus being sewn shut to prevent foetal loss, or premature birth, but medical evidence for improved outcomes is uncertain.
Dr Aimee Middlemiss, from the University of Exeter, will interview clinicians, stakeholders, and pregnant women and analyse policy and guidelines. She will work at seven NHS sites and with the Preterm Birth Clinical Network as part of the four-year project, which is funded by Wellcome.
Dr Middlemiss said: "We will ask how women and medical practitioners conceptualise, understand, use, and experience the cervical stitch. It will show the reproductive politics involved in the technology.
"These outputs will offer new knowledge which has the potential to change practices of care and therefore the experience of the stitch procedure for pregnant women and clinicians."
Guidelines state the cervical stitch may be offered to women in circumstances of preterm birth, or to try to maintain a pregnancy considered under threat of miscarriage or preterm birth.'
The fieldwork will take place in Cornwall, Bristol, Dorset, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire, Tyneside, and London. This will involve interviews with clinical staff such as obstetricians, midwives, sonographers and anaesthetists and interviews with patients in cases where cerclage is considered, offered, carried out, or refused.
