NHS England – June 2023
Optimal cord management is the delayed clamping of a baby’s umbilical cord after birth. It helps prevent a sudden drop in the baby’s blood pressure by allowing extra blood from the placenta to replace the blood that flows into the baby’s lungs when they take their first breaths. It also helps increase the amount of iron the baby receives.
Evidence shows in preterm babies of less than 34 weeks gestation, delaying the clamping of the cord for a minimum of 60 seconds after birth, reduces death by nearly a third. However, the practice was previously found to be variable between organisations and uptake was low.
To help increase delayed cord clamping across the NHS, in April 2021 the National Patient Safety Team’s Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme, began a new programme working with the Patient Safety Collaboratives.*
The programme included sharing best practice case studies, bringing maternity teams from different organisations together to learn from each other, a dedicated national action learning event and the creation of an online resource hub.
This has led to an increase from 33% to 58% of babies receiving this intervention nationally. Between April 2020 and January 2023 up to 465 babies born at less than 34 weeks gestational age potentially survived because their umbilical cord was clamped a minute or more after birth.
The use of optimal cord clamping will be further supported by its inclusion in . This will be a national policy vehicle to increase improvement and make the practice of delayed cord clamping business as usual. The National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) also collects data on this intervention and informs stakeholders nationally of improvements, process and outcomes, further increasing awareness.
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