Today (17 September) is world patient safety day and the focus this year is on safe maternal and newborn care.
Our maternity team at the RVI deliver over 6000 babies each year and the safety of mums and babies is our first priority. The team work with specialists across the Trust to make sure that those with complex needs receive care tailored to their needs.
Today, we’re highlighting some of the work that goes on across the Trust to support safe care for mums and babies. Many of our staff have gone above and beyond when delivering care and have worked around the world. Some of them have kindly shared their experience of working abroad.
Kirsty Maclean, Midwife – Malta
“In my second year of university I had the opportunity to apply for an Erasmus exchange programme. Luckily I managed to secure a place and found myself heading to Malta for three months. I really wanted the opportunity to experience different cultures and healthcare systems with the hope in gaining an understanding and appreciation for midwifery worldwide.
“Working in Malta made me appreciate how autonomous midwives are in the UK as Malta was heavily medicalised. For example, the obstetricians would sometimes outnumber the midwives and provide direct care for the woman whilst the midwives arguably worked like obstetric nurses. The strict hierarchy in the department also meant that the doctors spoke in English and the midwives in Maltese (I was told as a means of authority).
“I came across my first cord prolapse in Malta when the obstetrician let me practice a vaginal examination. The woman was a refugee who had received no antenatal care, she understood little Maltese (like myself) and no translator was used in the emergency or throughout her care on the labour ward. Being a student in an emergency situation and not understanding the language made me appreciate how vulnerable women can be when they do not understand what is going on with their care. This made me appreciate the importance of both verbal and non-verbal communication and also value our NHS and the everyday resources we have at ease every day.”
Naomi Murphy-Grigg, Midwife – Malta
“This photo was taken during the first few days of my second year midwifery placement in Malta. I was anxious and excited all at once, hoping for an experience that would make me a more capable midwife. Training abroad for three months brought challenges ranging from linguistic and cultural differences to developing confidence personally and professionally. Working in a Mediterranean country where English isn’t a first language taught me that I could be brave, bold, resourceful and work outside my comfort zone. It was a life changing and spectacular experience (apart from the sunburn).”
Hannah Telford, Midwife – Sri Lanka
“I went on my elective to Kandy in Sri Lanka in my third year of university. I thought this would be a great end to my degree with both midwifery experience and international travel. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and everyone was so kind to us. I loved seeing the different practices, including traditional and modern day medicine. The trip made me really appreciate the facilities we have here in our NHS and how easily accessible our healthcare is.”
Lauren Maughan, Midwife – Uganda
“For my third year elective placement I chose to go to Uganda with the charity Knowledge for Change. Along with a group of girls from my course we visited Fort Portal in a Uganda. Although Uganda is a middle income country, there were huge differences to the services women have available to them.
We worked in a small midwifery led unit, a medium sized unit that had a NICU and a large tertiary referral hospital. A lot of women choose to have their babies at home as the hospitals are all very busy and often far away from them. It was a difficult experience for the group as the women who do attend tend to only come to hospital when they feel something is wrong which can often be too late.
It makes you appreciate how valuable a service our NHS is! The charity we travelled with have a number of health professionals working at the hospitals who are improving the services women have access to including setting up free cervical screening for the first time in Fort Portal which will be so valuable to the women living there.”
Sophia Webster, Consultant Obstetrician.
Sophia is a consultant obstetrician with a special interest in global women’s health and is a staunch advocate for safe maternity care for all women everywhere. Originally from Newcastle, Sophia first worked at Newcastle Hospitals in 2007 as a trainee in Obstetrics and Gynaecology after returning from a year of training in South Africa. Since then, she has made many visits to sub-Sahara teaching emergency obstetric skills.
After completing her specialist training, she undertook her ‘Flight for Every Mother’ which saw her pilot a small aeroplane to 26 African countries with the highest rates of maternal death to advocate for better healthcare for women in pregnancy. She also donated essential equipment, taught key skills to midwives, nurses and doctors and introduced the RVI’s Maternity Early Warning Score Chart in a number of the hospitals and clinics she visited.
Sophia’s more recent endeavours have been focused around reducing unnecessary caesarean sections by teaching when and how to do deliveries by vacuum in countries where the skill has been lost.
Sonja Kelly, Delivery Suite Midwife
Sonja was recently awarded a Silver Chief Midwifery Officer award in August 2021 for the exceptional dedication to providing midwifery care overseas in southern Sudan. These awards recognise and reward the significant and outstanding contribution made by midwives in England and their exceptional contribution to midwifery practice. They celebrate midwives who go above and beyond in their everyday roles to provide excellent care, leadership and inspiration to their colleagues and patients.
Sonja is a registered member of UK-Med. UK-Med are core partners of the UK Government’s Emergency Medical Team (UK EMT), the front line of the UK’s response to a humanitarian crisis overseas. She has taken part in the delivery of essential obstetrics and neonatal care training course in South Sudan, the first maternal and reproductive health teaching visit for UK-Med. While there, Sonja and the team trained 25 Sudanese staff members (including nurses, midwives, doctors and community health workers).
The objectives of Sonja’s overseas visit were:
“To understand why women and neonates die or suffer harm. To focus on the causes of maternal mortality: haemorrhage, sepsis, eclampsia and obstructed labour. And with regard to Neonatal care: resuscitation, prematurity, and sepsis. To improve understanding of early pregnancy and abortion complications. To foster solution making within the local culture.”
During the visit Sonja facilitated the training and assessing the local health needs in order to support the local Sudanese team in planning their future maternal and reproductive health work. She maintained a blog of her time away and undoubtedly saved lives and trained other to save lives.
