Our Team | All4Maternity

Bio

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.

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Interests

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!

Bio

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

Interests

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.

Bio

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.

Bio

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.

Bio

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.

Bio

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.

Bio

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.

Bio

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.

Bio

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.