I join the NIHR Workforce Voices team at a significant point in my career as I celebrate 18 years as a registered midwife. Becoming a Workforce Clinical Research Fellow is a proud moment for me and an exciting opportunity to work alongside dedicated research professionals who are committed to identifying workforce solutions to support recruitment, retention and the wellbeing of healthcare staff.
It has been a challenging and rewarding landscape working within the midwifery profession over the last decade. As a profession, we have worked tirelessly supporting national initiatives to improve outcomes for women and babies, reduce health inequalities and improve the quality and safety of maternity care. Alongside these ambitions has come increasing scrutiny, ongoing service transformation and, at times, a sustained negative portrayal of maternity services and midwives within the media. Whilst accountability and learning are essential, the impact of continuous negative headlines can lead to significant anxiety for women and families navigating maternity services and can be demoralising for the professionals delivering care leading to increasing issues in relation to recruitment and retention within the profession.
Recent national maternity reviews have reinforced the scale of the challenges facing maternity services. Most recently the Ockenden review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Independent maternity and neonatal investigation led by Baroness Amos have highlighted the devastating consequences of poor culture, ineffective leadership, insufficient workforce capacity and failures to listen to both women and staff. These themes have been reflected in several high profile maternity reviews into a collection of NHS Trusts since 2015 and the publication of the Morecambe Bay Investigation. Collectively, these reports serve as a reminder that in order to improve outcomes for women and babies we must also focus on improving the environment in which maternity professionals work.
The midwifery profession is also facing a changing landscape. Whilst birth rates are falling, the complexity of care required has increased significantly. Midwives are caring for women with increasingly complex physical, psychological and social needs whilst often working within services that are experiencing workforce shortages and growing operational pressures. The emotional burden of providing care in such environments should not be underestimated. Levels of sickness absence, burnout and stress continue to affect many maternity professionals as they attempt to provide safe, compassionate care in challenging circumstances.
Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work alongside amazing, dedicated midwives, maternity support workers and multidisciplinary colleagues who remain deeply committed to the women and families they provide care to. However, I have also witnessed and at times, felt the impact that workforce pressures can have on staff wellbeing, morale and retention.
Working within a clinical, leadership role, dealing with these increasing pressures on a daily basis I am driven to identify what helps midwives to remain in the profession. Understand why some midwives thrive in pressured environments whilst others struggle and how organisations can implement strategies to create environments where staff feel valued, supported and able to deliver the care they are passionate about providing. All these drivers are what attracted me to the role of Workforce Clinical Research Fellow.
Throughout my leadership journey, I have learned that to create meaningful and sustainable change, we need evidence. Workforce research provides an opportunity to understand the experiences of healthcare staff, identify what supports recruitment and retention, and develop interventions that are informed by the voices of those working within the profession.
This is what makes the NIHR Workforce Voices programme so exciting. It recognises that people working within healthcare services hold valuable insights into both the challenges they face and the solutions that may improve their working lives. By listening to those voices and combining lived experience with robust research, midwives and the wider maternity workforce have an opportunity to influence meaningful change across healthcare services.
In my clinical role, the more I learned about workforce challenges, the more I recognised the importance of understanding the experiences of the teams delivering care. The wellbeing of healthcare professionals is inextricably linked to the quality and safety of care that patients receive. When staff feel supported, valued and psychologically safe, they are more likely to deliver compassionate and effective care and remain within the workforce. However, when staff experience burnout, stress and moral injury, the impact is felt not only by the workforce but also by the patients and families they care for.
The recent Ockenden review and the Amos Investigation have reinforced for me why workforce research matters. Whilst these reports contain recommendations relating to safety, governance and accountability, they repeatedly highlight the importance of workforce wellbeing, organisational culture, compassionate leadership and sustainable staffing. These are not separate issues; they are fundamental to the future of maternity care.
For me personally, this fellowship represents an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone. My career has been grounded in clinical practice, leadership and supporting teams. Research is a newer landscape, but one that I am eager to explore. I am excited by the opportunity to develop new skills, work alongside experienced researchers and contribute to the growing evidence base focused on workforce experience.
Most importantly, I hope this fellowship allows me to amplify the voices of midwives and the wider maternity workforce. Their experiences matter. Their insights matter. If we are serious about improving maternity services, we must be equally serious about understanding and improving the experiences of those delivering care.
As I begin this new journey in my career, I feel privileged to be part of a programme that is dedicated to understanding the realities of the healthcare workforce and developing evidence-based solutions. Improving outcomes for women and babies will always remain at the heart of our profession, but achieving that ambition requires a workforce that is valued, supported and able to thrive.
I look forward to learning, contributing and helping to ensure that the voices of midwives and the maternity workforce remain central to shaping the future of maternity services.
