NHS North East and Yorkshire marks International Day of the Midwife 2022
On Thursday 5 May people from across the world will be celebrating International Day of the Midwife 2022.
Over the past two years, midwives, maternity support workers and student midwives have met extraordinary circumstances to provide excellent care to women and their families.
As part of our celebrations in the North East & Yorkshire, the Regional Chief Midwife for NHS North East and Yorkshire, and Deputy Chief Midwife, have issued a social media video wishing happy International Day of the Midwife to the region’s midwives, maternity support workers and student midwives.
In their filmed message, shared on NHS North East and Yorkshire’s Twitter channel Dr Tracey Cooper MBE and Claire Keegan say the Covid-19 pandemic has made it an especially challenging time for the midwifery workforce and they thank the region’s midwives for everything they’ve done to make a difference to the lives of women and their families.
Right: Sharon Gowans, a research midwife at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, is one of the trust’s principal investigators (PI) for research studies.
She has become the Trust’s first ever PI who is a non-medic to be place in the research network’s top five highest recruiters.
The role of a PI is traditionally carried out by a doctor – but is now something being performed by other highly qualified and experienced health professionals.
Sharon said: “It is a privilege to be able to lead research trials in the organisation.
The NHS in England has continued to deliver around 1,600 babies every day since the start of the pandemic, and midwives and other NHS staff have worked tirelessly to care for babies, parents and families in extraordinary circumstances.
Below: Alongside baby Jude, Service Voice Representative, Sarah Wall, says a special thank you to her midwife and to all of the midwives across our region.
There are so many opportunities in midwifery. In this highly–skilled profession you can find unique roles such as diabetes specialist midwives, community midwives, digital midwives and caseload midwives; there are so many roles on offer.
To complement Tracey and Claire’s message of support, we have gathered further filmed contributions from midwifery professionals across our region.
Below: A number of service users thank their midwives.
Below: Rukeya is a senior midwife at Bradford and Craven NHS Foundation Trust and continues to urge pregnant women to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The NHS is committed to providing safe maternity services and our midwives are central to that work. Significant action has already been taken to transform care for pregnant women and their babies, including a new £127m investment to boost our workforce, strengthen leadership and improve culture. This is on top of an annual boost of £95m for recruitment and training announced last year.