Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Midwifery Feature Articles

Midwifery Feature Articles

It’s Kick-Off on Maternity

Paul
A weekend announcement of £2 million for an RCOG review into preventing brain injuries during birth looks like a smart pre-emptive announcement ahead of today’s publication of the long awaited Select Committee report into Safety in Maternity Services. A few weeks ago NHS England announced £96 million more on maternity......
Midwifery Feature Articles

PREGANCY & ALCOHOL: Lost in translation?

Paul
The WHO have issued a new document that comments on pregnancy and alcohol. We would all expect it to be a well thought out policy document based on established advice and good science. Yet it has provoked widespread heated and furious comment around the world. Most governments have long- standing......
Midwifery Feature Articles

£733,000 for East Kent Hospitals Trust baby death. It’s not what you think.

Paul
It would easy to believe the recent fine for East Kent Hospitals Trust is another in a long line of high cost medical negligence cases but you would be wrong. Many midwives and maternity managers will have seen the headlines about the guilty plea by East Kent Hospitals, the big......
Midwifery Feature Articles

Capturing the correct data for births at home

Paul
June 6th 2021 was global International Home birth day. It may have passed your notice; there was even no mention of it from the Royal Colleges in statements or press releases. Why does the day exist? The International confederation of midwives points to the reasons on Twitter with the reminder:......
Midwifery Feature Articles

“Moral Distress” from Burnout

Paul
The Select Committee on Health and social Care , Chaired by Jeremy Hunt published its findings on Workforce Burnout and Resilience in the NHS on the 8th June, just as the stress of lockdown is to be extended a month. Commenting on the report – Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive......
Midwifery Feature Articles

What We Need to Thrive?

Paul
In 2011, one of the Society of African and Caribbean Midwives (SoAC) leaders embarked on the journey of becoming a Mary Seacole Leadership. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr ‘Take the first step. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.’ Embarking on......
Midwifery Feature Articles

Celebrating the public health role of midwives: the smoking cessation midwife

Paul
The role of the midwife has certainly expanded since I started my training in 1981 and I continue to be amazed at the wonderful work my colleagues engage with. Sarah Leach, is one such midwife who ‘goes the extra mile’ when it comes to giving good care. Sarah decided to......
Midwifery Feature Articles

Virtual Conference: Group B Strep in Pregnancy & Babies

Paul
The Group B Strep in Pregnancy & Babies Virtual Conference takes place on Wednesday 2nd June 2021. View the full programme here and book your conference tickets here. Group B Strep is usually a harmless bacterium and carrying it has no symptoms. However, when passed to a baby around birth,......