Widening inequalities should galvanise action across systems

Work is underway to address the inequalities experienced by black, Asian and other minority ethnic women and their babies; work that's greatly needed. However, inequalities arising from structural,...

Gestational diabetes

J Marion Sims and the ‘forgotten women of gynaecology’

‘To the indomitable courage of these long-suffering women, more than to any one other single circumstance, is the world indebted for the results of these persevering efforts. Had they faltered, then...

More than a statistic: compassion in baby loss training

Baby loss and bereavement care is not something that is highly acknowledged within the statutory guidance within nursing and midwifery. The term ‘bereavement’ itself has no definitive explanation...

A research midwife in a pandemic

In the heady adrenaline-infused days of early lockdown, time stood still, and the layers of our lives were stripped back. For health systems, the virus stuck, like a stick into a beehive..

Compassion and kindness

Significant among the dispiriting catalogue of midwifery and obstetric issues that were identified in the review of 250 maternity services cases at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, is...

Inequalities, safety culture and personalisation

The disparity in outcomes in maternity for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women giving birth in the UK has been recognised for some time (Nair et al, 2016; Knight et al, 2018; Mothers and...

Why Erasmus matters

Students consider embarking on the Erasmus+ programme for a variety of reasons. While some students view it as an opportunity for an extended holiday, others embrace it is an experience to be immersed...

COVID-19 and caesareans

In their recent systematic review of SARS-CoV-2 in pregnancy, Akhtar et al (2020) considered 22 studies, which identified 156 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 and 108 neonatal outcomes. The most common...

Midwives in low-resource settings

Countries with scarce resources, like Pakistan, mostly have poor health indicators Maternal, neonatal and child healthcare are often compromised as a result of a lack of availability and accessibility...

COVID-19: women with diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy

COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic and poses a significant challenge to the care of pregnant women, especially pregnancies complicated by diabetes and hypertension These pregnancies are associated with...

Should pregnant women be in a high-risk COVID-19 category?

As COVID-19 spread round the world in early 2020, most governments introduced lockdown measures to reduce social interactions and so reduce the transmission of the virus In some countries, including...