ALL IRELAND MATERNITY POLICY
5 Talks
Across the island of Ireland significant changes are taking place to maternity policy as well as setting up ways to improve care. Within this set are presentations about different policy strategies that are in place. In addition the talks present surveys of care and questions current practice as well as looking toward the future.
Opening Address to the All-Ireland Maternity & Midwifery Festival
2020 | 13 mins | All Ireland Maternity Policy
Maeve Gaynor, Executive Council member, Irish Nurses and Midwives organisation (INMO), opens the first All-Ireland festival. She highlights the International year of the nurse and the midwife 2020, and focuses on the maternity strategy for Ireland. She explains the strategy for developing midwifery led units and highlights how this has not been carried out and the need to increase the staffing levels. She presents the calls for action by the INMO and the continued connections with the European Union midwives association and the International confederation of midwives. She present the campaign for the year of the midwife and encourages others to become involved.
Maeve Gaynor, Executive Council Member, INMO; Midwife, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital
Universal changes in the Provision of Maternity and Early Years Services in NI
2020 | 13 mins | All Ireland Maternity Policy
Dr Jenny McNeill, from the School of Nursing and Mdiwfery, at Queen’s University in Belfast, explains the involvement of midwifery in improving early years policy in NI. She explains the drivers for the change in the provision of services to ensure children receive the best start in life prior to school. She describes the Getting Ready for Baby model of antenatal care and education that has been developed and the project behind its introduction across all antenatal services. Jenny also presents the evaluation of the implementation of the project
Dr Jenny McNeill, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery Research and Lead Midwife for Education, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast
‘Scary as it was my first’: women’s experiences of birth in Northern Ireland 2015-2019
2020 | 25 mins | All Ireland Maternity Policy
In this podcast Seana Talbot, Chair of Birthwise, shares the results of the survey carried out by the charity on women’s experiences of birth in Northern Ireland. She explains the purpose behind the survey and celebrates the positive feedback. She also presents some of the responses where learning can take place, particularly related to women’s choice and autonomy. Seana talks about the outcomes of the births including place of birth and position in labour and covers some of the issues in the postnatal period. She concludes with recommendations for change and development in maternity services.
Seana Talbot, Chair, Birthwise
Where are we going? Promoting normality versus over-using technology
2020 | 32 mins | All Ireland Maternity Policy
Professor Cecily Begley, Chair of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College, Dublin, talks about the increase of the use of technology in childbirth globally and particularly in Ireland. She sets out the risks globally of caesarean section (CS) to women and babies, both for planned and unplanned circumstances. Demonstrating with evidence, the ways to reduce the CS rate are discussed. Cecily asks the question where Ireland wants birth to be in 20 years. The talk concludes with responses to questions.
Professor Cecily Begley, Chair of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College, Dublin
COVID Vaccine – Safety, comparisons and misinformation
2021 | 24 mins | Understanding Better Births
Linda Machakaire, Director of Midwifery & Lead Neonatal Nursing, Homerton University Hospital Foundation Trust, shares stories around her personal and professional journey during the Covid pandemic. She relates some of the concerns raised by black and Asian staff as more was understood about the impact on the virus. She also explains the mistrust of the vaccine in the black community and the reasons for the reluctance to take up the programme. Linda advises to speak to women individually to allay their fears at every opportunity.
Linda Machakaire, Director of Midwifery & Lead Neonatal Nursing, Homerton University Hospital Foundation Trust
