Thinking big in midwifery: Heads above the parapet: Midwifery leadership development
Dr Bernie Divall, research fellow at the University of Nottingham, explores leadership in midwifery. She reflects on the current background in midwifery, and explains her PhD that examined development of leaders in midwifery. Bernie discusses some of the responses around leadership and relates them to current management roles as midwives. She concludes discussing the roles of midwives and leadership in the future.
Dr Bernie Divall, research fellow at the University of Nottingham
Inspiring leadership resources
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales 2019 National review of maternity services
https://hiw.org.uk/national-review-maternity-services
Kirkup , B. 2015 The Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation The Stationery Office.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/408480/47487_MBI_Accessible_v0.1.pdf
McCalmont C, Bailey E. 2016 Enhancing and developing leadership in midwifery. The Practising Midwife 19(2):8-10.
National Maternity Review 2016 Better Births: Improving outcomes of maternity services in England – A Five Year Forward View for maternity care
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/national-maternity-review-report.pdf
NHS England Maternity transformation Programme resources
https://www.england.nhs.uk/mat-transformation/
NHS England and Health Education England 2018 Leadership Development
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/leadership-development.pdf
NHS Long term plan
https://www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/
NHS Lothian Best Start in Lothian resources
https://services.nhslothian.scot/Maternity/Best-Start-in-Lothian/Pages/default.aspx
RCM undated The RCM standards for midwifery services in the UK
https://www.rcm.org.uk/media/2283/rcm-standards-midwifery-services-uk.pdf
RCM Leadership resources
https://www.rcm.org.uk/promoting/learning-careers/leadership/
The Scottish Government 2017 The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland
https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-five-year-forward-plan-maternity-neonatal-care-scotland/pages/0/
The Scottish Government Maternal and Child Health resources
https://www.gov.scot/policies/maternal-and-child-health/
Demonstrating your learning – Inspiring Leadership
We hope you have enjoyed watching the video box set. The aim of producing this package is to enable you to learn about an aspect of midwifery practice which you will be able to use to improve the care of women, babies and their families. As a professional there will be times where you will need to demonstrate you have learned and, don’t forget that, writing down your learning will help this to be embedded in your memory! To this end we have devised some questions to help you progress. You may, of course, devise your own questions as well. These may then be used as part of your professional validation in the future.
Learning Outcomes
After watching these talks you will have:
- Knowledge of the place of maternity services in current structures and the future services
- Examined experiences of leadership and management roles and the impact
- Explored appropriate practical leadership and management
Reflective questions
- Explore the learning outcomes (LO) of this set of videos. What are the key aspects of the LO that are relevant to you and your scope and code of practice?
- Summarise what you have learned from these videos
- What are the feelings that have been raised as you watched them? Why you have felt this?
- What are the key pieces of research or evidence that you have learned about?
- How will this learning now affect your practice; the women, babies and families in your care?
- Are there ways you plan to make changes or take forward with others?
- What else would you like to find out about to help your learning on this topic?
Dr Bernie Divall, Research Fellow, University of Nottingham; Founder Why Not?
I’m a midwife by background, but left clinical practice in 2009 to undertake my Doctorate, in which I explored the career narratives of midwifery leaders. Since then, I have worked as a research fellow, a lecturer, and most recently as a facilitator of leadership and career workshops for midwives and other maternity staff. I use Insights Discovery as the basis for much of my work, as it supports individuals, teams and organisations to celebrate uniqueness, explore difference and build unity.
I’m passionate about supporting midwives to be the best they can be, wherever their career might take them. That’s how I came to set up Why Not. Have a look at the introduction page to find out more about my personal journey.
