Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Student Midwife

Midwifery Sector News

Maternity & Midwifery Hour Episode 11: Voices from student midwives during the COVID-19 crisis

Paul
On this page you can access the live stream, links and resources for our 10th June 2020 Maternity & Midwifery Hour live stream. In this Maternity & Midwifery Hour, Sue, Alicia and Laura will provide up-to-date information and discussion on the role of student midwives during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.......
Midwifery Feature Articles Videos

Midwifery Hour Highlights: Students Stepping Up

Paul
Student midwives heading for the frontline in COVID-19 The second instalment of the Maternity & Midwifery Hour – proudly supported by MATFLIX – focuses on the students affected by the coronavirus crisis hitting global healthcare systems. Host Sue Macdonald (Co-editor, Mayes Midwifery textbook) was joined by Dr Anna Byrom (Senior......
Midwifery Sector News

“Poor quality of care is now a bigger barrier to reducing mortality than insufficient access to care.”

Paul
2020 will be the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.  Fran McConville, Midwifery Advisor at the World Health Organisation, entreats midwives everywhere to use this as an opportunity to raise the profile of midwifery, trumpet its importance, and campaign for better maternity care and the investment needed to make......
Midwifery Sector News

“What is it about our obstetric units that is so bad for women?”

Paul
NHS England describes Evidence Based Practice as meaning that every time a health professional makes a treatment decision, that decision is based on the best available evidence as well as their clinical expertise and the patient’s preferences. As common sense as that might sound, midwives know better than many health......
Midwifery Sector News

Vaughan Gething AM- Keynote address

Paul
After facing down calls to quit in Spring 2019 following a damning report into Cwm Taf maternity services, Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services Vaughan Gething AM pledged to improve the quality of maternity care in Wales. At the second annual Wales & South West Maternity & Midwifery......
Midwifery Sector News

Optimizing the use of Caesarean Section

Paul
In October 2018, The Lancet published an epidemiological report   on global use of caesarean sections – it put the UK figure at just over 26% of all births.  This comes, perhaps not coincidentally, at a time when tokophobia (the extreme fear of birth) seems to be on the rise.......
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. ......
Midwifery Sector News

Normal Birth…What’s going on?

Paul
In most contexts, ‘normal’ is a boring word – but within the world of maternity and midwifery it is a contentious one. Between them, Sheena Byrom OBE and Professor Soo Downe OBE have some 75 years of experience in midwifery practise.  Many of those years have been spent actively researching......