Health equality radio

Since the event, we have reflected on it and one midwife used a reflective cycle to gain further insight from a personal and professional perspective (Gibbs, 1988).

22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Out with the old and in with the new

The professional midwifery advocates at East Kent hospitals were as disillusioned as their colleagues. The advocate team, consisting of one full-time lead and 17 sessional advocates, were impacted by...

Are England's maternity services safe?

Artificial placentas and wombs

‘…not all healthcare users are the same and therefore do not have equal need’ .

Is pregnancy a disease?

What is a disease? To what extent can ‘disease’ be defined, given views in relation to terms like ‘illness’ and ‘sickness’? In considering disease in the context of evidence-based medicine (where...

Genomics and midwifery

‘Technological advances mean that there is an interface between midwifery and genomics that needs to be negotiated’ .

Threat to low-risk birth environments

While all areas of maternity services are currently struggling, the past 3 years in the UK have placed the provision of low-risk labour care at a serious disadvantage (National Institute for Health...

Prisons and midwifery

‘…if a pregnant woman receives a prison sentence, she may come directly from a violent domestic background, which “increases the risk of miscarriage, infection, premature birth, and injury or death...

Improving specialist services for FGM

‘Guidelines introduced by the [World Health Organization] recommend that all FGM survivors have access to deinfibulation, mental health support, sexual counselling, education and information’ .

Maternal sepsis

In a UK study, Bolger et al (2017) examined the impact of a maternal sepsis training package on maternity staff's compliance with their hospital trust's maternal sepsis guideline, as documented in...

De-stigmatising HIV in pregnancy

Victoria Roscow, age 30 years old, is a Manchester-based marketing manager and a woman living with HIV.