Listen2Baby: improving fetal monitoring for women having an uncomplicated labour

Listen2Baby is a programme of research, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), which is aiming to improve the way that midwives monitor the fetal heart rate during uncomplicated labour using intermittent auscultation, or IA.

The programme has resulted in the development of the Listen2Baby Toolkit, a web-based quality improvement resource to support best practice in IA. The draft Toolkit is currently hosted on NHS Futures, accessible only by selected NHS sites where it is being implemented and evaluated, prior to national launch and rollout in 2026.

The programme is being led by Associate Professor Rachel Rowe with collaborators from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Cardiff University, the University of Birmingham, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and The Point of Care Foundation.