Consultant Midwife Public Health, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

For Mary Clare Chapman, midwifery has always been about more than clinical care. It’s about fairness, dignity and making sure that every woman and birthing person — regardless of their background or circumstances — receives the support they deserve.

As Consultant Midwife for Public Health at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Mary Clare combines direct clinical care with strategic leadership to improve outcomes and drive change. She works primarily with women and birthing people who experience social exclusion or require more personalised care planning, leading health inclusion teams that deliver community midwifery care directly within asylum accommodation — bringing the NHS to people where they live, rather than expecting them to come to it.

The results of this approach speak for themselves. SASH became the first NHS Trust to receive the Maternity Stream of Sanctuary Award, recognising the maternity team’s exceptional care for women seeking asylum. Mary Clare has also championed improved access to interpreting services and advocates strongly for Pregnancy Circles, a community-based model of antenatal care in Crawley that has been shown to improve outcomes, particularly for women from minoritised communities.

Her ambitions don’t stop there. Mary Clare is leading work to establish a Perinatal Hub in Crawley, so that families who currently face longer journeys to access services can receive a wider range of care closer to home. In Surrey, she is working with partners to embed targeted midwifery support within Family Hubs in communities, shifting the focus from reactive responses to preventative, holistic care.

“My work is motivated by a desire to reduce health inequalities and a strong belief in social justice,” she says. “The founding principle of the NHS — that healthcare should be free at the point of delivery — is closely aligned with these values, and I am proud to work for an organisation that embodies them.”

Mary Clare’s work is a vivid example of the hospital to community shift in action: care that travels to people, meets them in their communities, and leaves no one behind.