As part of International Day of the Midwife we are celebrating all of our NBT midwives caring for women and birthing people in the community, antenatally, during birth and postnatally.
With the main day falling on the Bank Holiday, we are taking the opportunity to spread the celebration of our fantastic midwives over several days.
Read on to hear from our incredible midwives, starting with a thank you message from Julie our most senior midwife and Divisional Director of Midwifery and Nursing.
Julie Northrop – Divisional Director of Midwifery and Nursing
Every single day, I’ve witnessed the strength, compassion, and professionalism of our teams, through moments of joy, and in times of challenge. I feel incredibly privileged to lead and work alongside such an inspiring group of people who give so much of themselves to ensure safe, kind, and high-quality care for women, birthing people, babies, and families.
I want to take this moment to say thank you: for your care, your courage, your laughter, and your support, not just for our patients, but for each other.
Hayley Forbes – Patient Experience and Engagement Lead
I have worked across all areas of maternity in the hospital and on the community, and am inspired every day by the families I work with. I am incredibly proud to be a midwife and feel very privileged to present in the lives of the families I work with.
Due to my passion for family centred care I now work as the Patient Experience and Engagement Lead for Women and Children's, I work with families to form our services around what families want.
I love what I do.
Lucy Parchment – Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) Midwife
As the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) Midwife for NBT, I work alongside a counterpart at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
We work with the hospitals to support the implementation of policies and national priorities within the trusts, bridging the gap between the Integrated Care Board (ICB). We also work closely with families and the Maternity Voices Partnership and listen to what families need.
It is about supporting trusts, so that we can offer equitable care across the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) patch for all women and is so important that we can bring a clinical perspective to the strategy.
Both Trusts have some really amazing staff. I work with a fantastic team here at NBT, it’s lovely working here, and I love my team at the LMNS.
Through both of my pregnancies, I had an absolutely amazing midwife for almost all of my appointments. She was so kind, caring and compassionate, and I thought ‘you have made this whole experience amazing’.
I was a mortgage advisor at the time, and I thought, ‘I want to make a difference to people’s lives’, so I did, and never looked back. And I’ve still got the same excitement and passion for midwifery as I did 15 years ago, and I wouldn’t do anything else.
Now, my role is more strategic and less clinical, but that drive for providing the very best care for women and birthing people is very much at the core of what I do.
Rosie – Student Midwife
I have loved being a student midwife at NBT and have enjoyed all aspects of my training. I love supporting the women I am lucky enough to care for and I feel so privileged to be able to watch their families grow. This beautiful baby was the final catch I needed to qualify as a midwife and I am so grateful to his mum and dad for letting me be a part of their journey to becoming parents.