With over 600 midwives already registered for the London Maternity & Midwifery Festival taking place next month, Editorial Director Neil Stewart reflects on more than a decade of shared learning, innovation and collective resilience. From tackling birth trauma and restrictive policies to supporting student midwives and amplifying the voices of women and families, the Festival continues to address the realities of modern maternity care. Despite the challenges facing the profession, the message is clear: midwifery is not hollowing out — it is adapting, connecting and moving forward together.
Where will you be on 11th February? Over 600 midwives and maternity staff already have registered to attend the London Maternity & Midwifery Festival on 11th Feb at the Royal National Hotel, Euston London. You can still see the agenda and register here to attend or you can take part online from anywhere or just make sure you get the FREE box set to catch up and use for your revalidation or CPD.
The Maternity & Midwifery Forum started livestreaming and recording everything for you over 12 years ago, recognising that midwives’ diaries are increasingly at the mercy of management staffing demands and the universal unpredictability of childbirth.
It has been quite a challenging journey, especially keeping everything going online through the COVID pandemic to share midwifery and women’s experiences, and challenges on some of the over restrictive policies imposed on homebirths, waterbirths, and women being separated from their partners at birth. MATFLIX video teaching from maternity experts, recorded from those Festivals is now used by half the universities teaching midwifery and increasingly being picked up internationally.
In the Festivals we try to tackle the difficult issues and give voice to the daily experiences and professional concerns of midwives. We also aim to bring in the voice of mothers and families, often through the charities that tackle difficult issues like stillbirth, maternal death, birth trauma and increasing recognition that mental health issues can be much more dangerous than the dismissive “baby blues”.
The difficult issues to be addressed in London include current student midwives experience of physiological birth, not just the issue that some students are struggling to complete their 40 births for registration and colleges are having to extend courses, teaching waterbirths and in some cases rediscovering the skills that were pushed aside during COVID. The NMC will be there as well to answer those difficult issues on competent practice and standards.
Recent press coverage has again highlighted the impact of birth trauma on mothers and how widespread it is. It reminded us that it was nearly a decade ago at the London Festival, attended by nearly 700, that the majority of the delegates tried to attend a breakout on the “art of birth” avoiding birth trauma. It was more than a canary in the mine warning that birth trauma was much more common than thought. These were midwives not only talking about the trauma they saw women experience; the traumatic effect it had on them as professionals but also their own traumatic experiences of giving birth. Despite their professional experience, they too complained of “not being listened to”.
Happily, there are also a range of other fascinating presentations on lactation and immunisation and Nicky Clark, the former Lead Midwife for Education at Hull University will be continuing her sessions for education staff and managers on the challenges facing maternity schools in the current difficult university and NHS budget climate.
Plus, a publishing treat, Professor Jane Salvage will be presenting fascinating research in her new book on The Midwives’ Gospel: the forgotten women at the birth of Jesus and how those women who acted as midwives at the most famous birth have been portrayed through the ages – spoiler alert, it wasn’t always positive – but fascinating.
If you only listened to the media you would think the world of maternity and midwifery was half empty and hollowing out. But come to London Festival and meet the speakers and midwives who take a positive attitude to making things work for mothers and babies, improve the working conditions and support for midwives and bringing in the best innovation and practice to support your work, on units, in management or in colleges. The Maternity and Midwifery Festival are there for you. Register here for FREE.
Neil Stewart
Editorial Director, Maternity & Midwifery Forum
January 2026