Intervention characteristics
PTB
EVENTS
Data from the initial business case and project meetings proved the intervention initially entered into the Trust through external sources (university and local public health department). However, the POPPIE model was then designed in partnership with researchers, clinical managerial teams, maternity commissioners, public health specialists and service users, after discussing at various meetings the strong evidence, quality, and cost-effectiveness behind continuity models. To avoid centrally driven and controlled leadership, researchers built a coalition between stakeholders through information sharing and decision making, conducted local consensus discussions to develop and agree on the characteristics of the POPPIE model (e.g. team size, targeted population), and also involved executive boards in the intervention development. A patient and public involvement group was actively involved in discussions of the intervention and outcome measures important to women at risk of PTB and their partners through biannual meetings, social media groups, and service user events. A relative flexibility of the POPPIE model was agreed but guarantee of core components (e.g. relationship continuity, autonomy over own work) was important. Thus, adaptability was promoted by allowing certain aspects of the intervention to be adapted and tailored (e.g. organisation of team’s on-calls, rota and workload; skills mixed; further training). A six-month piloting phase, led by the team leader, enabled researchers and clinicians to build experience and expertise in the complex reconfiguration of local maternity services before commenting the trial (see 