Pregnancy and birth choices
All trusts must ensure women have ready access to accurate information to enable their informed choice of intended place of birth, including maternal choice for caesarean section.
We want to provide the highest and safest standards of care for mother and babies to encourage as straightforward a birth as possible. This leaflet explains the options available to help you make an informed choice.
Your baby’s movement
This leaflet contains information about your baby’s movements during the COVID-19 outbreak.
If you notice a change in your baby’s regular movement call your midwife or maternity unit immediately.
Click here to find information on the importance of your baby’s movements in a range of languages.
Maternity Voices Partnership
The Maternity Voices Partnership group encourages lay representatives to be involved in decisions around maternity services.
Lay representatives are parents or parents-to-be who can attend our meetings to tell us what it is like to use our services and give opinions on future changes.
Professional midwifery advocate
A new model of midwifery supervision came into effect in April 2017.
The A-EQUIP (Advocating for Education and QUality ImProvement) model works for women and midwives by:
- Supporting midwives to advocate for women
- Providing direct support for women and midwives using a restorative approach
- Undertaking quality improvement in collaboration with women/midwives. (NHS England 2017).
Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMA), are experienced practising midwives who have undergone extra training to support and guide midwives to deliver good quality and safe care developed nationally and delivered locally.
The aim of Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMA) is to support midwives in their clinical practice and advocate for women. We a have a team of midwives at South Tees who provide this service.
How can professional midwifery advocates help you?
Midwives will support you throughout your maternity care: if you have any concerns about your care, you and/or your midwife may contact a Professional Midwifery Advocate
You can arrange to speak to a PMA for a wide range of issues relating to your experience of pregnancy or birth. This may include reflecting on a recent pregnancy or wanting to talk through a previous experience because you are pregnant or planning to be pregnant again.
They can help by:
- listening and advocating on concerns you may have about your current midwifery care;
- talking to your midwife/obstetrician on your behalf if you are concerned about your plan of care;
- supporting and advising on care choices, eg. place of birth;
- We can support your midwife to discuss the most appropriate choices for you and your baby.
- Midwives may want to contact us for professional advice and guidance or to reflect on their practice or experiences.
How do I contact a professional midwifery advocate?
Email: [email protected]
They will aim to reply to your email within 10 working days.