Quality improvement in action

Stakeholder analysis and engagement undertaken at the start and throughout improvement is the cement within the building bricks of any quality improvement project. It provides a way of identifying,...

Improving the culture of care

The last decade has shown that a significant proportion of absence due to ill health within the NHS is stress-related. While reports of stress and burnout in midwifery are not new (Sandall, 1997; Ball...

Learning throughout the storm

Birthing out of the system

Is she allowed?

‘Providing midwife care in this way leads to midwives losing their autonomy and flexibility’ .

Woman-centred care

‘Woman-centred care principles underpin the midwifery profession’ .

From theory to practice

Supporting the future of midwifery

Some individuals display and employ task-related behaviours that are primarily focussed on undertaking a series of events or actions in order to achieve the end goal (Forsyth, 2010), whereas...

I'm only sweeping

The author has been following, with interest, the debates and discussions around the trend of increasing induction rates across the UK, influenced in part by the drive to reduce stillbirth, neonatal...

Trusting women and birth despite the ‘risks’

There are different ideologies and models in maternity care, each with underlying assumptions and philosophies relating to women and the care provided to them during the childbirth continuum. The...

Feminism, midwifery and the medicalisation of birth

Historically, childbirth was the domain of women only, for it was regarded as a female mystery, of which women alone had special knowledge and understanding. From the 1700s, with the rise of science...

Improving outcomes through education and co-creation

The recent Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) report has exposed some shocking findings regarding the maternity outcomes amongst...