UK Preconception Partnership

Primary Care subgroup

The Primary Care Subgroup of the UK Preconception Partnership brings together clinicians, researchers and professionals who work in public health and community and charitable organisations to improve the delivery of preconception care in primary care settings.

The group aims to strengthen collaboration across disciplines and UK nations, helping to share expertise, resources and networks to support research, implementation and wider dissemination of preconception health tools and interventions relevant to primary care.

A key focus of the Subgroup is to support collaborative research and funding opportunities, map ongoing projects, and showcase work across the UK to maximise synergies and reduce duplication. The group also aims to contribute to improvements in national guidance and clinical practice, including supporting updates to the NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary on preconception care, ensuring guidance is practical, inclusive and evidence-based for use in primary care.

The Subgroup is co-chaired by Dr Danielle Schoenaker and Dr Michael Daly.

  • NIHR Fellowship: building the case for preconception care in primary care to support preparation for pregnancy

This NIHR-funded research programme aims to develop and test a preconception care pathway for use in general practice. The research will: 1) prioritise key preconception topics that can be addressed in primary care and co-develop a Core Outcome Set to support consistent evaluation; 2) use linkage of routine health datasets to quantify the impact of changes in preconception health behaviours on pregnancy and longer-term maternal and child outcomes, and on health inequalities; 3) co-develop a preconception care pathway through stakeholder discussions, which will be pilot-tested in general practices to assess feasibility, acceptability, and potential economic return on investment for the NHS.

Contact: Dr Danielle Schoenaker – D.Schoenaker@soton.ac.uk.

  • Co-PREPARE: Co-production for pre-pregnancy health improvement through primary care

Funded by the NIHR Three Schools Prevention Programme, the Co-PREPARE project involves co-producing a primary care-based intervention that supports preconception health improvement for women and women's partners, through in-depth interviews and consensus development workshops with primary care professionals and members of the public. It is led by Joint Chief Investigators Dr Michael Daly and Prof Ruth Kipping at the University of Bristol, with co-investigators from the Universities of Birmingham, Newcastle, Nottingham and Warwick.

For enquires, please email preconception-research@bristol.ac.uk

Hanley SJ, McCann S, Lee SI, Schoenaker D, Singh M, Moss N, Nishshanka NMCL, Vowles Z, Plachcinski R, Nirantharakumar K, Black M, Locock L, Taylor B. 'It Was a Bit of a Now or Never Situation': Experiences of Preconception Care and Support for Women With Multiple Long-Term Health Conditions. Health Expect. 2026 Feb;29(1):e70583. doi: 10.1111/hex.70583.

Daly MP, Kipping RR, White J, Sanders J. What support is needed for preconception health improvement, and by whom? A qualitative study of women's views. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health. 2025;8:100607. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2025.100607.

Caut C, Schoenaker D, McIntyre E, Steel A. Health professionals' beliefs and attitudes towards preconception care: a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Aug 4;25(1):1023. doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-13246-y.

Carter T, Schoenaker D, Adams J, Steel A. Pregnancy intention, preconception health, health behaviours, and information and health advice seeking among expectant male partners. BMC Prim Care. 2025 Feb 12;26(1):36. doi: 10.1186/s12875-025-02703-6.

Schoenaker D, Lovegrove EM, Cassinelli EH, Hall J, McGranahan M, McGowan L, Carr H, Alwan NA, Stephenson J, Godfrey KM. Preconception indicators and associations with health outcomes reported in UK routine primary care data: a systematic review. Br J Gen Pract. 2025 Jan 30;75(751):e129-e136. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2024.0082.

Schoenaker D, Lovegrove E, Santer M, Matvienko-Sikar K, Carr H, Alwan NA, Kubelabo L, Davies N, Godfrey KM. Developing consensus on priorities for preconception care in the general practice setting in the UK: Study protocol. PLoS One. 2024 Nov 21;19(11):e0311578. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311578.

Cassinelli EH, McKinley MC, Kent L, Eastwood KA, Schoenaker D, Trew D, Stoikidou T, McGowan L. Preconception health and care policies, strategies and guidelines in the UK and Ireland: a scoping review. BMC Public Health. 2024 Jun 22;24(1):1662. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-19188-0.

Daly MP, Kipping RR, White J, Sanders J. Women's views on content and delivery methods for interventions to improve preconception health: a qualitative exploration. Front Public Health. 2024 Feb 21;12:1303953. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1303953.

Hall J, Chawla M, Watson D, Jacob CM, Schoenaker D, Connolly A, Barrett G, Stephenson J. Addressing reproductive health needs across the life course: an integrated, community-based model combining contraception and preconception care. Lancet Public Health. 2023 Jan;8(1):e76-e84. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00254-7.

Daly MP, White J, Sanders J, Kipping RR. Women's knowledge, attitudes and views of preconception health and intervention delivery methods: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2022 Sep 24;22(1):729. doi: 10.1186/s12884-022-05058-3.

Dorney E, Boyle JA, Walker R, Hammarberg K, Musgrave L, Schoenaker D, Jack B, Black KI. A Systematic Review of Clinical Guidelines for Preconception Care. Semin Reprod Med. 2022 Jul;40(3-04):157-169. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1748190.

Schoenaker D, Connolly A, Stephenson J. Preconception care in primary care: supporting patients to have healthier pregnancies and babies. Br J Gen Pract. 2022 Mar 31;72(717):152. doi: 10.3399/bjgp22X718853.

Stephenson J, Schoenaker D, Hinton W, Poston L, Barker M, Alwan NA, Godfrey K, Hanson M, de Lusignan S; UK Preconception Partnership. A wake-up call for preconception health: a clinical review. Br J Gen Pract. 2021 Apr 29;71(706):233-236. doi: 10.3399/bjgp21X715733.