The Cardiff Maternity & Midwifery Festival returns on 23 September with a new format and an expanded programme exploring the issues shaping maternity care, education and the workforce across Wales and beyond. Free to attend, the Festival combines expert speakers, practical learning, networking and exhibition opportunities — with this year’s programme putting the future of the midwifery workforce firmly in the spotlight through a new Stand Up for Student Midwives Rally.
The Cardiff Maternity & Midwifery Festival 2026 returns to Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday 23 September with a new format, a broader programme and a clear focus on the issues shaping maternity care, education and the workforce across Wales and beyond.
Free to attend, the Festival brings together maternity, midwifery and early years professionals from across Wales and the South West of England, with more than 300 healthcare professionals expected to attend. The programme combines expert presentations, interactive sessions, practical workshops, networking and a diverse exhibition — with the full programme also streamed online and made available afterwards as part of the Festival’s video box set.
For 2026, the Festival has expanded its scope with new Women & Infants Health, midwifery education, neonatal, health visiting, mental health nursing and maternity management content, reflecting the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of maternity and early years care.
A programme tackling the issues that matter
The morning programme gets straight to some of the major challenges facing maternity services.
Ruth Weston, birth activist, speaker and author of Born Stroppy: Make Change Happen, will open the main programme with “Systemic kindness: making kindness and compassion a structural part of our maternity systems”. Dr Carmen Power will explore birth trauma, bonding and baby behaviour, while Caitlin Wilson from the Royal College of Midwives will introduce the RCM’s career pathway tool to support midwives on their professional journey.
The programme then moves into issues including early-career support, anti-racist practice, woman-centred antenatal safety assessment and the challenges facing maternity education in light of the maternity reviews.
There is also a strong focus on the experiences of women, babies and families, with sessions exploring Down’s Syndrome, breastfeeding, postnatal contraception, bereavement care, reproductive choices and the experiences of autistic mothers and their children.
Stand Up for Student Midwives
One of the most distinctive features of this year’s Festival is the Stand Up for Student Midwives Rally.
Led by Alix Morrison, Student Midwife Advocate for Better Maternity Care Leadership and Maternity Workforce Advocate, together with Neil Stewart, Editorial Director of the Maternity & Midwifery Forum, the rally provides an opportunity to put student midwives and the future maternity workforce firmly at the centre of the conversation.
With workforce pressures and the future of midwifery education high on the agenda, it is a timely opportunity to hear directly from those entering the profession and consider what needs to change to support the next generation of midwives.
Learning, careers and wellbeing
The Festival is designed not simply as a day of presentations, but as an opportunity for professionals at every stage of their careers to update their knowledge, develop new skills, plan their CPD and revalidation, and recharge their professional batteries.
The day begins with practical skills sessions including Knitting and Crochet for Wellbeing with Amanda Hutcherson and a Revalidation Surgery with Dr Jenny Hall. Later sessions include an exploration of midwifery education, career development and practical approaches to improving care.
There will also be opportunities to meet experts, explore an academic poster display, network with colleagues and visit the exhibition, which brings together organisations offering products, services, resources, networks and professional opportunities for maternity and midwifery staff.
A Welsh event with wider relevance
Although the Cardiff Festival has a particular focus on maternity care in Wales and the needs of professionals across Wales and the South West, many of the issues explored are universal.
From workforce and education to birth trauma, health inequalities, anti-racist practice, infant feeding, bereavement, reproductive choice and the experience of students and early-career midwives, the programme reflects challenges and opportunities being discussed across maternity services throughout the UK.
The Festival’s online participation and full video box set also mean that the learning can reach well beyond those able to attend Cardiff in person.
A chance to reconnect and recharge
With maternity professionals working through considerable pressures, the Festival aims to provide something that can sometimes be difficult to find in everyday working life: time to step back, learn, connect with colleagues and think about the future of the profession.
And there is plenty to encourage people to attend in person. Cardiff City Stadium is just over a mile from Cardiff city centre and offers straightforward access by road, bus and train, making it an accessible venue for delegates travelling from across Wales and the South West.
Whether you’re a practising or student midwife, maternity leader, educator, researcher, neonatal nurse, health visitor, mental health professional or another healthcare professional working with women and babies, the Cardiff Maternity & Midwifery Festival offers a packed day of professional learning, discussion and connection.
And best of all, it’s free to attend. Sign up today!
Wednesday 23 September 2026
Cardiff City Stadium, Leckwith Road, Cardiff CF11 8AZ
Maternity & Midwifery Forum
September 2026