The Maternity & Midwifery Hour

Series 18 - Episode 10: You were held…

This session we are looking at how women, who may at risk of separation from their babies at or soon after birth, especially through complex child protection issues, can be uniquely supported through a compassionate, private photography session.

The ‘You were held’ project supports mothers in managing the grief of being separated from their babies due to legal reasons and to reinforce that they are, and always will be, mothers. By preserving precious memories of an emotional connection, the project, led by a safeguarding and midwife photographer, helps reduce the trauma of loss and distress for mothers whose babies are taken into care and validates that they are a mother, giving a forever memory for both mother and baby. We are joined by Midwife Gaynor Morrison, Senior Midwife Lecturer at Kingston University, who has led this project.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Gaynor Morrison, Senior midwife lecturer, Kingston University

The rising caesarean section rate across the UK and globally is reshaping maternity care, with significant implications for midwifery practice, education and workforce development.

This session will explore how increasing surgical birth rates impact student learning opportunities, skill acquisition, confidence in physiological birth, and the future role of the midwife. We will consider the balance between supporting safe operative birth and maintaining expertise in normal birth, as well as the broader system pressures influencing these trends.

Designed for midwives, student midwives, educators, maternity leaders and policymakers, this event offers space for critical reflection, shared learning and constructive discussion about how midwifery education can adapt while protecting the core philosophy of the profession.

Join us for an important conversation about safeguarding midwifery skills in a changing maternity landscape.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Nicky Clark, Freelance Midwifery Educationalist; former LME, University of Hull

Midwifery Hour

The Midwifery Forum’s weekly live stream, brought to you by MATFLIX – every Wednesday, 7-8pm, UK

Series 18 - Episode 7: Safer delivery: working hours and conditions - impact on midwives’ wellbeing

Media attention on maternity care has rightly focussed on women, babies and families’ experiences of the maternity services and has highlighted issues around poor communication, difficulties with team work and, sometimes, uncaring practitioners. But is this the full story?

In this edition we are exploring midwives’ experiences of being asked to work over their hours, to cover for staff shortages and forcing them to work in ways that they feel prevents them from doing their job in the way they would wish.

We are joined by midwife and author, Leah Hazard, who has been investigating midwives’ experiences and will share her findings towards improving midwives’ working lives.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Leah Hazard, Midwife, Author and Activist

Biography

Leah Hazard

Leah Hazard is a practising NHS Midwife, bestselling author, activist and mother. As a proud member of the midwifery profession, she’s passionate about bringing midwifery and reproductive health into the public eye. As a firm believer that midwives lay the foundation for lifelong wellness, she’s committed to providing evidence-based information in a way that’s accessible, nuanced, relatable and relevant to our times.

The importance of consent, and specifically informed consent, is crucial in ensuring that women, babies and their families receive maternity care, personalised and tailored to their particular needs. This week we are joined by Dr Jacqui Williams, Senior Midwifery Advisor (Education) at the NMC and Geraldine Lucas Head of Midwifery at the University of Worcester, who join us to present some of the challenges that student midwives and midwives face in every day practice, and discuss how best to achieve true informed choice.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Dr Jacqui Williams, Senior Midwifery Advisor (Education), NMC

Geraldine Lucas Head of Midwifery, University of Worcester

2 presentations from the London Maternity & Midwifery Festival 2026:

Student midwives' exposure to physiological birth: An analysis of 3055 births

Dr Claire Feeley, Senior Lecturer and Midwifery/Maternal Health Researcher, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, Kings College London

Teaching Waterbirth for the 21st century.  Love, skills and knowledge

Dianne Garland, Founder, MidwifeExpert; Author

Series 18 - Episode 4: An update on the work of NHS Resolution’s Early Notification scheme

The Early Notification (EN) Scheme is a key initiative towards achieving the delivery of safer maternity care, providing a more rapid, caring response to families in cases of severe harm and supporting a learning culture.

This session will explore the NHS Resolution’s Early Notification (EN) scheme and share learning and resources that are useful for clinical practice.

The scheme proactively investigates specific brain injuries at birth for the purposes of determining if negligence has caused the harm. We then aim to investigate the claim sooner to provide earlier resolution for families. The EN team have published two key learning reports and you will have an opportunity to hear more about the reports and the work of the scheme during the presentation.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Annette Anderson – Head of Early Notification Clinical Team

Lynn Tilley – Early Notification Regional Lead (London)

Kelly Inglis – National Midwifery Clinical Fellow

Elizabeth Pells – Midwife and Early Notification Family Liaison and Mediation Lead

Series 18 - Episode 2: Anti-racist Midwifery: Practice Improving care

Keelie Grindley, EDI Lead, UHNM

The impact of systematic racism, unconscious bias and the disparities in maternal and perinatal outcomes for Black and Brown women and birthing people in comparison to their white counterparts must encourage us all to look critically at ourselves, and the care that we provide to women, birthing people and families.

In this session Sue is joined by Keelie Grindley, EDI Lead at the University Hospitals of North Midlands, who will share some of her work providing education to the maternity workforce and student midwives on anti-racist midwifery practice and racial inequalities.

Series 18 - Episode 2: What matters: Maternity services for neurodivergent women during pregnancy

Being neurodiverse can present significant challenges to women entering maternity services and meeting the needs of women who have been identified as neurodiverse, or are yet to be, is important in ensuring appropriate and compassionate care during their pregnancy and childbirth journey.

In this session we look at work being carried out by Lisa Allan, specialist midwife in Glasgow and Greater Clyde and Maureen McDowall, part of the What Matters to You (WMTY) support team who have co-developed a tool to support and develop maternity services for neurodivergent women during pregnancy.

The work focuses on understanding women from a WMTY perspective using a caring and kind approach guided by the 3 main principles of the WMTY: asking, listening, and doing what matters. This allows a space for a What Matters to You discussion to help understand what is important to the person who is using maternity services and how staff can work together with the women to deliver the service that’s right for them in their birthing journey.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Lisa Allan, Specialist Midwife in Perinatal Mental Health, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

Maureen MacDowall, Project Officer, Healthcare Improvement Scotland

What can we learn from the stories of newly qualified midwives

In this session, we discuss research undertaken by Suzanne which explored the experience of newly qualified midwives and its implications for supporting and developing new midwives. The identity of being a midwife is through relationships and this needs some rebalancing as practitioners start to negotiate the ‘doing’ (where the focus is on the proficiencies) with the ‘being’.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald

Contributions from:

Dr Suzanne Crozier, Midwifery Consultant