CAMPAIGNERS who ensure parents’ voices are heard in shaping maternity care across the county have welcomed the appointment of the first chief midwife for the West Midlands to lead improvements in care for expectant mothers and their babies
Worcestershire Maternity Voices Partnership hailed the appointment of Janet Driver as a ‘positive move’ in the pursuit of better maternity care in the county after she was unveiled on Monday (February 10).
She will be responsible for midwifery leadership and the provision of safer and more personal care for women, babies and their families.
Speaking to the Observer, vice chair of the partnership Becky Schofield said: “We received lots of wonderful feedback from families in Worcestershire who have been looked after by one of the new Continuity of Carer teams in our area and we are pleased to see the expansion of the continuity of carer model in Worcestershire with the launch two more teams already this year.
“However there is still more work to do to ensure every family is empowered and supported through personalised maternity care.
“Having a regional lead who is passionate about such improvements and has experience in delivering such change can only be a good thing from our perspective,” she added.
Janet qualified as a midwife in 1983 and boasts experience in both hospital and community settings. She has taken on leadership roles in midwifery and nursing, making key improvements in maternity care and other areas including patient experience.
“I’m very pleased to have been recruited to the role of regional chief midwife, especially in this Year of the Nurse and
Midwife which celebrates the contribution nurses and midwives make to our NHS, and I’m excited to start driving forward some of the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan,” she said.
The regional chief midwife implement the recommendations of Better Births, the report of the national maternity review, and the implementation of the NHS Long Term plan in the Midlands.
This includes making care more personal by ensuring that by 2021 most women are given the same midwife before, during and after birth. More personal care means safer care – helping to reduce pre-term births as well as women’s overall experience of care.
Continuity of carer will be prioritised for those women and unborn children who would benefit from it the most, including those who are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.
The NHS is leading celebrations for the international Year of the Nurse and Midwife, which marks the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, and a year when nurses and midwives will be celebrated worldwide.
