The Maternity & Midwifery Hour

This episode will be focusing on the lived midwifery experience of implementing this genetic testing within the existing Gestational Diabetes care pathway to ensure consistency and equity of access. Hosted by: Sue Macdonald, Midwifery Expert; Host and Curator, Maternity and Midwifery Festivals/Midwifery Hour, Editor, Mayes Midwifery Contribution from: Nicola Young, RN RM. Project Lead (Monogenic D...

Series 17 - Episode 9:  Educating Future Midwives This week’s episode will feature two key presentations from the Midwifery Education Conference that took place earlier in the day at De Montfort University. Nicky, former LME at the University of Hull and now a freelance Educationalist, will set out the challenges ahead and Angela will give an insight into the role of new technology in teaching. Ch...

This week we are exploring a project (The PANDA project) aimed at preventing maternal anaemia to avoid preterm labour and birth in order to reduce adverse outcomes for women and their babies. The PANDA project is a phase III, multi-centre, randomised placebo-controlled trial of oral iron supplementation for the prevention of maternal anaemia, and it is planned to recruit over 11,000 participants a...

Contribution from: Dr Jacqui Williams, Senior Midwifery Advisor (Education), Professional Practice Directorate, Nursing & Midwifery Council The NMC has worked with key stakeholders to develop these principles to respond to queries that midwives have raised with us in regard to choices women are making. The session will cover principles from the perspective of the woman, the midwife, the employ...

In this week’s hour we are exploring the experiences and perspectives of doulas working within the UK maternity services and privately employed. We are joined by Dr Amanda Hutcherson who is presenting her research into how training as a birth supporter impacts on women’s lives and identities. We welcome Trudi Dawson from DoulaUK who highlights the different pathways into becoming a doula and the u...

Series 17 - Episode 5: The empty crib: loss and bereavement in pregnancy and childbirth Featuring Lauren Petrie, Specialist Bereavement Midwife, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital This week, as we come to the end of baby loss week, our focus is on mothers and families who lose a baby at whatever stage of their pregnancy and, importantly, what midwives can do to support them through this time...

Series 17 - Episode 4: Collaboration in Action – towards Better Births together This session will be a chance to discuss the collaborative efforts of Make Birth Better to address the challenges facing maternity and perinatal care by building on the strength of grass root, charitable and shared-commitment organisations to work towards ensuring quality, safe and rights-based care for all who choose...

Series 17 - Episode 3: Postnatal care – Getting it right Dr Lesley Turner, Head of Practice Education (Nursing & Midwifery) Senior Teaching Fellow in Midwifery Care, University of Southampton Judith Cutter, Consultant Midwife for Public Health and Vulnerable Families, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Postnatal care has often been likened to the Cinderella of the Maternity Services. How...

Series 17 - Episode 2: Sharing the News that a Baby has Down’s Syndrome – Supporting Families Down’s syndrome is a genetic condition caused by the presence of a full or partial third copy of chromosome 21 in the body’s cells. It is sometimes shortened to “Ds” and in some countries called Down syndrome. Approximately one in every 1,000 babies is born with Down’s syndrome. In Scotland, around 70 bab...

For those of us who are midwives and those on the pathway to becoming midwives, we know that this vocation is never dull, often a challenge and part of this is coping with changing knowledge and practice - ensuring that we keep up with those changes, absorb the new evidence and add to our existing skills and knowledge set. In this, the first episode of the 17th series of Maternity and Midwifery Ho...

Series 16 - Episode 12: What’s love got to do with midwifery? The need for effective, compassionate and high quality care for women, babies and families is crucial. This week we are joined by Dr Diane Menage and Dr Jenny Patterson, to look at the next step in the story of the role of love and compassion in practice and with our colleagues. This builds on research and evidence in supporting midwive...

Series 16 - Episode 11: The Maternity Safety Agenda Hear two maternity leaders on practical steps to improve the safety of maternity care and ensure women the best childbirth experience they can have. At the start of a 6-month government inquiry into Maternity Safety, do you need to understand the issues and challenges? How has the shape and practice of maternity services lost the confidence of go...

This week we are looking at research and some of the exciting midwifery focused research projects in progress. This includes the NIHR-funded Research for Equitable Antenatal Care and Health (REACH) Pregnancy Circles Randomised Controlled Trial, which is seeking to improve access to antenatal care and enhance women’s experiences and value of care in areas of high deprivation and high ethnic diversi...

Series 16 - Episode 9: The Midwife's role in Facilitating Early Connections As we enter Baby Communication Week, with the theme of 'Born to Connect' highlighted by the Brazelton Centre, this evening we will focus on the complex processes of communication between the baby and those around them. We are joined by Inge Nickell, Director of the Brazelton Centre UK and Stephanie Kinder, Specialist Midwi...

Maternal Nutrition - Breaking Barriers and Building Confidence for Midwives with Anna Byrom (All4Maternity) and Marie Louise (The Modern Midwife).

Stillbirth is a deeply challenging outcome of pregnancy, and families often look to their midwives for answers and support. In this session, we’ll explore where genomic testing is becoming a valuable tool in understanding the causes of stillbirth—and where its limitations lie. Through an illustrative case study and discussion of real-world pathways, we’ll highlight how midwives can play a key role...

Series 16 - Episode 7: How babies sleep – from birth towards the first year A critical part of the midwife’s role is caring for the newborn baby and helping the mother and parents understand more about their baby’s behaviour and care. An important part of the baby’s life is sleep and their sleep pattern, alongside balancing parents’ own needs. In this session we are joined by midwife and neonatal...

Series 16 - Episode 6: Listening to and engaging with our communities Have you thought about working in a different way? Setting up an antenatal class locally or undertaking aromatherapy or complementary therapy work? Or would you like to plan this for the future… or just get better at skills in networking? We are joined by Dr Denise Tiran and Dianne Garland who will share some of their personal e...

Dalvir and Barbara discuss the importance of engaging with diverse communities to improve clinical outcomes, patient experiences and research quality. They share effective strategies for community engagement, highlight success stories and offer practical guidance on how you can apply these approaches in your own clinical practice and research initiatives. Hosted by: Sue Macdonald, Midwifery Expert...

Doulas provide practical, emotional and nurturing support to women and their families during pregnancy, childbirth and the early parenthood period. They may be employed privately by the woman, or may be provided for disadvantaged groups of women, whether due to financial, language issues and/or refugee status, providing support and advocacy. In this session, Sallyann Beresford will talk about her...

Series 16 - Episode 3: Pregnancy and motherhood in criminal justice settings What impact does prison have on pregnant and childbearing women and how does this affect society in its wider context? Recent media reports have provided a picture of the experience women will have and deeper research and policy work by our speaker this evening, Dr Laura Abbott, Associate Professor of Research at the Univ...

Series 16 - Episode 2: Consultant Midwives are critical in every crisis: A great Midwifery career - choices, directions and routes. Being a midwife is an exciting, challenging role, where no one day is exactly the same as another. It is crucial that midwives are able to use their commitment and skills in the role that feels positive and professionally rewarding. As a profession we face the impact...

Series 16 - Episode 1: Early detection, early action: Exploring Awareness of Genomic Testing at the Initial Midwifery Appointment Genomics is fundamental to midwifery practice and is incorporated into the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Standards of Proficiency for Midwives. It is important that all midwives can talk about genomics with confidence. For many midwives there is a need to upskill, but...

Series 15 - Episode 12: Midwives' and Nurse-Midwives' professional identities – representing midwifery in the public realm This episode focusses on Midwives' and Nurse-Midwives' professional identities – representing midwifery in the public realm In this hour, we are joined by Dr Sally Pezaro, and Dr Gila Zarbiv who will share the methodology and some of the findings from one of th...

This episode focusses on stress, burnout and ensuring your well-being. Being a student midwife and a midwife is a wonderful privilege, but also a demanding role, with the hurdles of stress and being able to balance work and life in your well-being. The impact of COVID-19, five years on, is also a good time to think about our well-being. This week, we are joined by Dr Denise Tiran and Dr Gina Finne...