Celebrating Royal Surrey Midwives on International Day of the Midwife | News

Last year, Royal Surrey’s team of over 180 midwives assisted the birthing of almost 4000 babies - each and every one of them a unique experience. Recognising and supporting that individuality drives our midwifery service to be inclusive and welcoming in all it does. One way the Trust deliver this is through our maternity parent portal, run by the midwives in our Parent Education Team.  

In recent months, Caroline Cousens and Natalie Vanrooyen, the Parent Education midwives, have introduced a range of new opportunities via the portal for Royal Surrey families.  These Include a collaboration with Dads Matter Surrey, offering workshops for dads-to-be and access to expert advice on any maternity or clinical questions, as well as an LGBTQIA+ support group, developed in response to research focused on improving support for expectant and new families.

The portal is also a mine of information for all related guides, pregnancy services and options for birth for its over 5,800 registered users many of whom don’t have English as a first language. Caroline, Natalie and Patient Experience Midwife, Claire Barraud, saw that as a barrier to equal access and created a language library for the nine most commonly spoken languages amongst our maternity users.  

Claire said: “The project is fundamentally about equality and accessibility.  We have so much information available on the parent portal and all our families should be able to benefit from that in the most user-friendly way.”

The response has been positive with midwives reporting back appreciative comments from users.

One said: “I am Polish, so reading all the information in my own language was very helpful.  I felt that I was important too even if English was not my language.”

The Parent Education Team plan to continue expanding inclusive and accessible content either developed in-house or curated from reputable sources to share with our community.  Caroline Cousens said: “Our offer includes a broad range of online and in person classes, flexible self-booking, and on-demand access to a wide library of resources, allowing families to tailor their learning to their individual needs and preferences.”

Royal Surrey’s Head of Midwifery Clare Cardu added: “Our ethos is to empower everyone closely involved in the childbearing experience.  That includes partners and those supporting our mums through their pregnancy, birth and early days of parenthood.  We work really hard to make sure we’re accessible to all our community.”

On this International Day of the Midwife, we’re celebrating our midwives working throughout the trust and thanking them for the wonderful support they give to families. Read more about the work of the Homebirth Team.