NHS Greater Manchester As Soon As You’re Pregnant campaign

In 2022 NHS Greater Manchester launched the As Soon As You’re Pregnant (ASAP) campaign.

Co–designed with midwifery services in Greater Manchester, the main aim was to encourage pregnant people to book in with a midwife as soon as they are pregnant, ideally before 10 weeks. This was primarily to ensure screening tests for sickle cell and thalassaemia could be carried out before 10 weeks to ensure there is adequate time for further testing if needed and to make decisions about any ongoing care that may be needed.

Feedback from midwives, other health care professionals and pregnant people has told NHS Greater Manchester that the scope of the ASAP campaign needed to be widened to focus not only on screening but also on vaccinations. Insight also suggested that some pregnant people did not feel prepared and that information they were given was often incomplete and sometimes difficult to understand, resulting in them feeling overwhelmed. NHS Greater Manchester therefore took the decision to include early pregnancy information as part of the campaign.

The flagship resource for this campaign is the As Soon As You’re Pregnant website.  Easy to read and navigate, the website contains key information in bite size chunks on the following topics:

• Early Pregnancy: including stopping smoking, what not to eat, vitamins and why it's best to avoid drinking alcohol
• Screening: including key information on sickle cell and thalassaemia as well as information about further screening offered during pregnancy
• Vaccinations in pregnancy: flu, RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and whooping cough
• Booking an appointment with a midwife before 10 weeks: how and where to do that depending on where in Greater Manchester you live.

Several of the assets for the promotion of this website are available to download in campaigns resource centre here