I became a midwife in 2000 and have had I a varied career in clinical practice, education, leadership and research. I have held clinical posts several different NHS Trusts, and am now a Consultant Midwife based in London. I have been a university lecturer, and have undertaken a Darzi Fellowship focusing on systems leadership. This variety of exposure has made me curious about different aspects of UK maternity services: how they are organised and run, how organisational culture affects midwives’ work and feelings of confidence and autonomy, and how different outcomes experienced by women, babies and families are influenced by more than individual health factors.  

I have conducted original research via Masters and Doctoral studies. My MSc (completed in 2008) consisted of a quantitative survey of midwives’ confidence and competence in supporting women to have a physiologically unfolding third stage of labour. My PhD studies (thesis submitted in 2021) explored through qualitative case study how defining attributes of midwifery-led care were enacted in intrapartum midwifery-led settings. 

From this experienced I have knowledge of qualitative approaches, data collections methods, and thematic analysis using the framework tool. Midwifery-led care, health inequalities, health service improvement are my topics of interest.