Maternity & Midwifery Forum

midwifery

Midwifery Feature Articles

Nurses and Midwives for Inclusion Health

Paul
Photo by Johann Walter Bantz on Unsplash
Nurses and Midwives for Inclusion Health: Partnership in Practice is a new professional interest group of nurse and midwife practitioners working in contexts where access to/uptake of health services is limited as a result of marginalisation, discrimination or lack of awareness. Examples of these practice areas include: homeless health, migrant/refugee......
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Midwifery Sector News

“You shouldn’t have to feel you’re pushing your pregnancy aside…”

Paul
“Even when you account for ethnicity, substance misuse, smoking – an out-of-home [situation] or housing instability leads to a low birth-weight baby.”   Being pregnant whilst homeless throws up a unique set of challenges. Pregnant women who become homeless have priority need for accommodation, according to government guidance, but problems......
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Midwifery Sector News

Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome during pregnancy, birth and beyond

Paul
After the actor and activist Jameela Jamil mentioned her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in an Instagram comment in February and was later presented with an award by the Ehlers-Danlos Society for being a patient advocate, a lot of fans were left scratching their heads. Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a relatively unknown......
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Midwifery Sector News

Midwifery a global update, what this means for normal labour and birth

Paul
Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash
At the World Health Assembly this year, 194 member states agreed unanimously to put nursing and midwifery at the centre of achieving Universal Health Coverage. It’s a first in world health. They also declared 2020 ‘the Year of the Nurse and the Year of the Midwife’ and pledged to focus......
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Videos

Midwifery: a global update, what this means for normal labour and birth

Paul
Fran McConville, Midwifery Advisor at the World Health Organisation gives a presentation discussing “Midwifery: a global update, what this means for normal labour and birth” at the 14th International Normal Labour and Birth Research Conference. The full box set of videos from this conference are available to view here....
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Midwifery Sector News

Getting it right the first time – Holding on to labour

Paul
Many pregnant women – especially those who have given birth before – have an innate sense of when they’ve gone into labour ‘for real’.  However, if they show up to the labour ward of their local or chosen hospital too soon, they run the risk of being sent home where......
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Midwifery Sector News

Coping with a crying baby – Warrington & Halton Hospitals launches programme aimed at helping parents and carers across Cheshire

Paul
“Babies Cry, You Can Cope – never, ever shake or hurt a baby” is the message from ‘ICON’ – a national programme of interventions and awareness that aims to help parents and carers to cope with a crying baby.  Yesterday, midwives, health visitors, GPs and other professionals who work with families,......
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Midwifery Feature Articles

New report spotlights how housing problems jeopardise women’s rights to safe maternity care

Paul
Photo by Johann Walter Bantz on Unsplash
A report published recently by the charities Birth Companions and Birthrights highlights the need for a more proactive, integrated approach to addressing the maternity care needs of women experiencing multiple disadvantages during pregnancy and early motherhood. Through in-depth interviews with women and professionals, the research found that, in almost every......
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Midwifery Sector News

“We felt so in awe of [our midwife]… We felt that she was so special.”

Paul
We’ve all heard of ‘Continuity of Carer’ in midwifery – it is a key component of the NHS’ move towards Better Births. Not so long ago, the (private) continuity of care service Neighbourhood Midwives in Walthamstow made the news when it closed unexpectedly, to the consternation of many expectant parents. ......
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