About our team

Our maternity team includes midwives, consultant obstetricians, maternity care assistants, paediatricians, obstetric nurses and administrative and clerical staff, all of whom work together to provide high quality care, creating a positive experience for all women who choose to deliver with us at Bedford Hospital or the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital (L&D).

Midwives

Midwives provide care at all stages of your pregnancy, birth and postnatal period. Our midwives work in different teams at our hospitals and in the community to provide individualised care according to your needs.

Many pregnant women and their partners want to get to know the people who will provide care for them during their pregnancy. In line with the Better Births Five Year Forward Vision for maternity services, we aim to ensure the same team of midwives provide continuity of care and support for all women that choose to have their babies with us. This means that you will be supported by your midwife who you will get to know and with whom you are able to build a relationship of trust.

Some women will need specialist input at different points during their pregnancy and we provide a variety of services for women across our sites including:

• diabetes
• birth after a previous caesarean
• support for young women
• support for Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic pregnant women
• baby in breech position (bottom down)
• advice about birth choices

Consultant doctors (for e.g. obstetricians)

You may have appointments with consultant doctors at different stages of your pregnancy.

• Antenatal clinics: We have various general clinics each week across both hospitals for women who need a doctor’s input during their pregnancy. These are arranged geographically so that all women living in a similar location are cared for by the same team of midwives and doctors
• Specialised clinics: Some women have particular needs during their pregnancy and we run special clinics to provide this additional support from pre-pregnancy right through to postnatal. To help women and babies to have the best possible outcome we ensure that care is centred around the mother, including decision-making and choices
• Delivery suites: There is always a team of doctors and midwives working on our delivery suites. Women with more complicated or high-risk pregnancies have their own individualised birth management plans to ensure everyone knows what care is required in labour
• Midwifery Led Birthing Units (MLBUs): While doctors do not provide routine care in our MLBUs (Acorn Suite at Bedford), they are always on hand in case an urgent situation develops and work with midwives as needed.

As both Bedford Hospital and the L&D are training hospitals this means that medical students will be working alongside our doctors and midwives in all areas of the maternity units.

We hope that you will be happy to welcome them at your antenatal/scan appointments or labour, but understand if you would prefer not to—the choice is always yours.

Maternity Safety Champions

Our safety champions play an essential role in ensuring that mothers and babies continue to receive the safest care possible.  Our safety champions adopts best practice and provides an opportunity for colleagues to raise concerns, share ideas and celebrate improvements in safety.

What do Safety Champions do?

• They work with local, regional and national safety champions to make our maternity and neonatal services safer
• They provide visible leadership and promote safe, personalised care
• They share learning and best practice from national research and local investigations and initiatives
• They regularly monitor safety outcomes in maternity and neonatal services
• They make sure maternity and neonatal safety issues are communicated and championed at board level within Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

 Who are our Maternity Safety Champions?

Board Level Safety Champions

Liz Lees MBE – Chief Nurse – Trust Board Executive Director

Anett Gamell –  Trust Board Non-Executive Director

Obstetric Safety Champions

Pushpa Maharajan – Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Cross Site Clinical Director

Mr Montasser Mahran – Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Consultant, Deputy Clinical Director (Bedford)

Midwifery Safety Champions

Emma Hardwick – Director of Midwifery (Cross Site)

Tara Pauley – Head of Midwifery (Bedford Hospital)

Hazel Cathcart – Head of Midwifery (Luton and Dunstable University Hospital)

Neonatal Safety Champion

Jennifer Birch – Clinical Director

Neonatal Perinatal Safety Champions

Claire Adamson – Innovation and Quality Lead

Claudia Chetcuti Ganado – Neonatal Consultant

Professional Midwifery Advocates

Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMA), are experienced practising midwives trained to support and guide midwives to deliver care developed nationally and delivered locally.

Every midwife is seen by her PMA at least once a year, to ensure a high standard of care for you and your family.

The objective of the role is to provide restorative clinical supervision; advocacy and support quality improvement activities, education and leadership for midwives.

What do PMAs do?

• Give guidance and support to your midwife and support her to provide you with the highest standards of care
• Work closely with the multidisciplinary team to ensure your care is appropriate
• Help midwives to access additional education and training in practice as necessary

Would you like to get involved?

If you’d like to help us improve our maternity care and facilities, you can join our Maternity Voices Forum and we would also welcome your participation in our maternity meetings (such as the labour ward form), where we can consider the on-going service developments to improve care. If you are interested please contact Claire Zajac.

Maternity Voices Partnerships (MVP)

What is an MVP?

A Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is an NHS working group comprising of local maternity staff and parents working together to improve the maternity services in their areas.

Bedfordshire Hospitals works collaboratively with both the Bedford and Luton MVPs to improve and develop the maternity services across our hospitals and communities.

For more information or to get in contact with the Bedford or Luton and Dunstable MVPs, visit their dedicated page.