Sheena Byrom
Team Member
I qualified as a midwife in the 1970’s and have worked since in all areas of practice, including 9 years as a consultant midwife, and latterly as a head of midwifery. I currently work as an independent midwifery consultant providing support to NHS maternity services and global organisations, and I lecture nationally and internationally on childbirth related topics.
My midwifery memoirs, Catching Babies, is a Sunday Times bestseller, and my absolute passion is promoting normal physiological birth, and a positive childbirth experience for all women. I jointly edited The Roar Behind the Silence: why kindness, compassion and respect matter in maternity care with Professor Soo Downe OBE. This seminal book is being used globally as a resource to improve maternity services.
Our new book, Squaring the Circle: researching normal birth in a technological world will be published in Spring 2018. I was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to midwifery, and I received an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Midwives in 2015. In 2016 I was delighted to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Bournemouth University.
Travelling the world is something both me and my husband Paul love doing. I also adore spending time with my ever expanding number of grandchildren - it’s true what they say, these children keep me from growing too old, too soon!
Anna Byrom
Team Member
Thank you for browsing our new all4maternity website. It is lovely to share our resources with you. We hope you find what you need. I have been working with The Practising Midwife for the last three years. During that time I have supported the development of the editorial content for each journal issue and helped to create a series of associated online content. I passionate about support everyday students, midwives and maternity workers to access evidence to inform practice and care.
This year I have become the proud new owner of The Practising Midwife. Alongside my mummy midwife, Sheena Byrom and our partners Creativeworld, we are delighted to be the first midwifery publishers of this important practice-focused journal.
Beyond The Practising Midwife and All4Maternity I work as a Senior Midwifery Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). I am also currently completing my doctorate exploring the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative with Professor Fiona Dykes at the Maternal & Infant Nutrition and Nurture research unit at UCLan.
I am also a busy mummy, with three children: Seamus, Betsy and William. Outside of work I love nothing better than sharing time with my family, relaxing in hot baths, reading and, when the weather holds, cycling the hills of the Ribble Valley, Lancashire.
You can find out more about me via my website - Visit my Website
My interests include promoting and supporting positive childbearing for all women and families; encouraging optimal infant nutrition and nurture and developing effective education curricula. I am passionate about translating evidence in to practice in meaningful and engaging ways.
Advisory / Editorial Board
Maria Birt
Advisory Board
Midwife at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Maria works as a community midwife in Worcestershire. Having worked until recently within a busy maternity unit, Maria undertook a secondment as a deputy screening specialist midwife and later worked on the midwife-led unit birth team. Maria is passionate about antenatal education, promoting normality, water birth and supporting student midwives.
Deborah Caine
Advisory Board
Midwife, Lecturer and PhD Student, University of East Anglia
A midwife for over 15 years, Deborah is now a labour ward midwife and university lecturer in Norfolk. Deborah is also studying for a PhD, exploring midwifery-led intrapartum care. She has written journal articles and recently contributed supervisor of midwives comments to a book focusing on childbirth emergencies in community settings.
Susan Crowther
Advisory Board
Professor of Midwifery, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Susan has been with TPM for over a decade. She has worked in many regions around the world as consultant, caseload midwife and midwifery educator/researcher. Susan is currently researching spirituality in and around childbirth, sustainable caseload midwifery and rural midwifery care. She is professor of midwifery at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.
Deidre Daly
Advisory Board
Lecturer in Midwifery, Trinity College, Dublin
Deirdre is assistant professor in midwifery at Trinity College Dublin and project manager for OptiBirth project. She is keen to improve maternal health service delivery, optimise childbirth and woman-centred care, and improve the experience of childbirth, including focusing on pelvic floor and urinary incontinence, as well as promoting physiological labour and birth.
Cathy Green
Advisory Board
Midwife, Home birth team, Birmingham Women’s Hospital
Cathy is a strong advocate of supporting women’s choices and promoting positive birth. She has worked as a midwife in a variety of settings and is part of the team piloting a dedicated home birth service for women in South Birmingham, aiming to make this the normal choice for low risk women.
Joyce Marshall
Advisory Board
Senior Lecturer in Midwifery, University of Huddersfield
Joyce is currently a senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield with responsibilities in research and education. She is a practising midwife who has worked clinically in different areas within the UK. Her research focus is maternal and child health and wellbeing, including infant feeding and midwifery practice.
Kerry Pollard
Advisory Board
Midwifery Lecturer at University of Central Lancashire
With a background in adult nursing as well as midwifery, Kerry is a midwifery lecturer at UCLan. Her areas of expertise are in the complex labour and birth environment and the training and support of newly qualified Midwives. Kerry has a special interest in the prevention of perinatal and maternal mortality and morbidity.
Jane Pollock
Advisory Board
Midwife, City Hospital, Sandwell and west Birmingham hospital NHS trust
Jane qualified as a midwife in 2014 following a seven-year career in nursing. She works as a rotational midwife in Nuneaton. Jane won an Iolanthe Award in 2015 for her work in wellbeing and resilience in midwifery. She has presented at conferences and looks forward to developing her work in this subject further.
Mandy Renton
Advisory Board
Chief Nurse, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust
As a midwife, Mandy has worked mostly in the community and in midwifery leadership roles. She is now Chief Nurse in community services in East Anglia. Her passion is to improve the way we work with people at the forefront of our care, to ensure that their needs are being met.
Katrina Rigby
Advisory Board
Senior Research Midwife and Team Leader, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Katrina is senior research midwife and a team leader at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She has been practising midwifery in a wide range of settings since 2000. Committed to being involved with high quality research to generate best evidence for best practice, Katrina continually strives for excellence in care.
Rebecca Knapp
Advisory Board
Midwife, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Rebecca is a wife, mummy and midwife. She is passionate about normality within all aspects of childbirth, and particularly in how knowledge of anatomy and physiology increases midwives’ confidence in women’s ability to carry and birth a child. She is interested in maternal mental health, including bonding and attachment between mother and child.Additional Board Members
Alys Einion
Advisory Board
Associate Professor of Midwifery and Reproductive Health and Swansea University
I am attracted to improving global & public health and midwifery practice by gathering evidence and using technology powerfully to translate important information into manageable and meaningful pieces for practitioners and women alike. Passionate about understanding the benefits, challenges & consequences of integrating social media into practice. Attracted to improving global & public health and midwifery practice by informing action through research. Utilising long standing midwifery principals alongside technological advances will improve women's health literacy, choice, empowerment and connectivity with healthcare professionals. I believe this to be vital to the future sustainability of midwifery services.
Annette Ballard
Advisory Board
Midwife in Cambridge
Annette has over 17 year's clinical & managerial experience working at the Rosie in Cambridge. She has worked on the antenatal & postnatal ward areas, the low risk birthing unit and the high risk labour ward. She is currently practising on the high risk labour ward where she provides individualised care to women with either:- complex medical needs, requiring induction of labour, requesting epidural analgesia, pregnancy complications from 12/40, pregnancy interruption for fetal abnormalities, bereavement care and support, and out of hours assessment and triage.
Annette works within and provides support to the multidisciplinary team, continuously reviewing work load to maintain safety for the women, babies and families as well as the staff on duty.
Annette says she learns something new every day and is a great believer in an open learning & sharing culture.
Sarah Curran
Advisory Board
Ulster Hospital, Dundonald
Northern Ireland
Grace Edwards
Advisory Board
Professor of Midwifery, Aga Khan University, Uganda
Grace has worked as a midwife for just over 41 years. She worked as a hospital and community midwife, midwifery lecturer and consultant midwife. She also has extensive experience with the maternal and infant confidential enquiries serving as the national midwifery lead. She is currently Professor of Midwifery Education and Practice at Aga Khan University in Uganda.
Claire Feeley
Advisory Board
PhD student, University Central Lancashire
Claire qualified as a midwife in 2011 at Oxford Brookes University, graduating with a Master’s degree at the University of Central Lancashire in 2015. During this time, she has worked clinically in all areas of midwifery as well as establishing a research career. She is currently enrolled on a PhD Studentship with the University of Central Lancashire. Claire has a passion for women’s health inequalities, namely around the issues of childbirth choice, autonomy, rights and care provision. She has published and presented at several conferences, nationally and internationally.
Laura Godfrey-Isaacs
Advisory Board
Midwife, King’s College Hospital, London
Laura Godfrey-Isaacs is an artist, midwife and brith activist, and spent over twenty years in the arts, as a visual arts, academic and creative producer. In 2016 she graduated as a midwife from King’s College London, and now works as a community midwife at King’s College Hospital, London.
Kathryn Gutteridge
Advisory Board
Consultant Midwife and Clinical Lead for Low Risk Care, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
Maddie McMahon
Advisory Board
Birth and Postnatal Doula, Cambridge
Maddie has been a birth and postnatal doula since 2003. She is a Doula UK Mentor and runs Developing Doulas, a Doula UK approved doula preparation course. She is an ABM breastfeeding counsellor and founder trustee of Cambridge Breastfeeding Alliance, a small charity bringing together breastfeeding supporters from LCGB, NCT, LLL and ABM. She volunteers for AIMS, on the helpline and in the campaign group. She recently achieved her childhood dream of being a published author with the publication of Why Doulas Matter in 2015. Her new book, Why Mothering Matters is coming soon. Mum to boy and girl teens and stepmum to one all-grow-up boy, she lives and works in Cambridge.
Phoebe Pallotti
Advisory Board
Associate Professor of Midwifery, Nottingham University
Phoebe is a practicing midwife, a trainee doula and the Associate Professor in Midwifery Research at the University of Nottingham. Phoebe's academic background is in medical anthropology and she has substantial experience in third sector management and governance.
Phoebe's research interests are in global women’s health and safe motherhood initiatives, global and local health care inequalities and maternity care in migration and diaspora.
Clinically, she is particularly interested in emergency intrapartum care in a low resource setting, breastfeeding and pMTCT of HIV and she teaches these skills around the UK and abroad. Phoebe is a passionate advocate and campaigner for safe and dignified maternity care of women seeking asylum in the UK. Phoebe is the the Vice Chair of the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust and a fellow of the HEA.
Lucia Rocca
Advisory Board
Midwifery Lecturer and Researcher, City University London
I worked until October 2015 as a Consultant Midwife in Public Health at St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and I am now based at City, University London, where I work as a Lecturer and researcher. My PhD Focused on identifying the key ingredients which make midwifery units safe and effective.I am passionate about supporting the development of a collaborative interdisciplinary team culture and organisational change facilitation. In my carreer I have learnt that building positive relationships with women, their families as well as among staff is crucial for safe and effective care.
Hannah Tizard
Advisory Board & Maternity Media Consultant
Midwife, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
I am attracted to improving global & public health and midwifery practice by gathering evidence and using technology powerfully to translate important information into manageable and meaningful pieces for practitioners and women alike. Passionate about understanding the benefits, challenges & consequences of integrating social media into practice. Attracted to improving global & public health and midwifery practice by informing action through research. Utilising long standing midwifery principals alongside technological advances  will improve women's health literacy, choice, empowerment and connectivity with healthcare professionals. I believe this to be vital to the future sustainability of midwifery services.Â
Esther Sharma
Advisory Board
Lecturer and Researcher
Student Midwives
Ruth Bowler
Student Midwife, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland
Alison Brindle
Student Midwife, University of Central Lancashire
Alison is a 3rd year student midwife at the University of Central Lancashire. As chair of UCLan Midwifery Society Alison has organised many conferences and study days including founding the 'Bursting the Bubble' unspoken issues conferences in 2017/18. As editorial board member, Alison curated the student survival series of articles for The Practicing Midwife journal.Alison's passion for woman centered salutogenic care is evident in her #ZeroSeparation and #TheatreCapChallenge social media campaigns. After qualifying Alison hopes to go straight into studying for a MSc Midwifery degree with the aim of researching the effects of separating of mothers and babies after birth.