Informing clients of risk: Immediate implications of a landmark supreme court decision

On 11 March 2015, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board (2015) UKSC 11, a case involving the failure of an obstetrician to warn a pregnant woman with...

Transition to midwifery: Collaborative working between university and maternity services

The first few months’ experiences of a newly qualified midwife's first post have an impact on the individual's confidence and the overall quality of the maternity service offered to the women and...

Creating a culture of ‘safe normality’: Developing a new inner city alongside midwifery unit

In the UK, the majority of maternity care is provided through obstetric units (OUs) (accounting for approximately 93% of births)

Female pelvic shape: Distinct types or nebulous cloud?

For well over 50 years, students of midwifery, obstetrics, gynaecology and related professions have been taught the Caldwell-Moloy classification of the female pelvis While recognising variation and...

Pregnant women's reactions to routine CO monitoring in the antenatal clinic

Carbon monoxide (CO), a colourless, odourless and poisonous gas, is a waste product of cigarette smoking CO monitoring is an immediate and non-invasive method of determining smoking status (National...

Healing identity by telling childbirth stories on the internet

Childbirth is challenging and while there is a reliance on experts such as midwives and doctors to provide education in the rules for birth (Cheyney, 2011), informal sources of information regarding...

Vaginal birth after caesarean or elective caesarean—What factors influence women's decisions?

Improving women's choice and control over their maternity care has been on the political agenda in the UK for over 20 years (Department of Health, 1993) An area where the issue of women's choice is...

‘What's it like being a male midwife?’

Early intervention programmes for mental health from the NSPCC: Part 2

Early interventions for antenatal mental health difficulties Midwives have a critical role to play in not only identifying women with mental health difficulties but also in referring them on to...

Giving every baby an equal chance

This report of perinatal deaths demonstrates once again that social economic determinants of health must be taken into account if we are to give every baby an equal chance, not only to survive but...

Stamping out inequality

New figures out last month reporting the small decline in the percentage of women smoking at the time of birth make for an encouraging read. The latest Statistics on Women's Smoking Status at Time of...

What is happening in Scotland?

It is really interesting to be celebrating the Centenary of the Midwives Act in Scotland in the same year as the Nursing and Midwifery Council are piloting its revalidation programme. There will be...