News

Annual Report for April 2022 – March 2023

National Maternity Voices Annual General Meeting was held on Monday 27th November 2023.  We thanked Emma Taylor who stepped down as a director after nearly 5 years supporting the development of NMV. 

2022/2023 was a good year for NMV, starting with the launch of the MVP toolkit and ending with a return to face to face conferences. You can read about developments in our annual report for April 2022 – March 2023 here.

 

 

Saving Babies Lives 2023: Where We Are

Launch event report by Anne Marie Matarrese, Chair of Derbyshire Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership 

On Monday 15 of May 2023, I attended the launch in parliament of the Saving Babies’ Lives Progress Report, by the Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit. The event was hosted by Olivia Blake and Cherilyn Mackrory, both MPs who have bravely shared their own stories of loss and work to raise awareness on this issue and drive improvements.

The event was attended by many MPs, as well as the Health Minister Maria Caulfield, representatives from national charities and organisations, as well as the Royal College of Midwives and Donna Ockenden. Many of those who spoke, from MPs to midwives, were bereaved parents themselves, with very different experiences of care. Hearing their stories in this context was a very powerful moment. Continue reading “Saving Babies Lives 2023: Where We Are”

NMV’s thanks key senior leaders moving on from NHS England

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Baroness Julia Cumberlege, and Sir Cyril Chantler are stepping down from their roles in NHS England. National Maternity Voices (NMV) collated messages from Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MVP / MNVP) members to send with a token of appreciation for their incredible and long standing contributions to maternity and neonatal improvements and developments in England. Continue reading “NMV’s thanks key senior leaders moving on from NHS England”

2023 Maternity & Neonatal Service User Summit: 16 January 2023

After nearly three years of remote working, it was wonderful to be in a room with dozens of other people interested in how service users can influence maternity and neonatal services.  

Many people had been at the previous MVP unconference in March 2020 but many more had never met national colleagues face to face before.   Continue reading “2023 Maternity & Neonatal Service User Summit: 16 January 2023”

Annual Report for April 2021 – March 2022

National Maternity Voices third Annual General Meeting was held  on Tuesday 22nd November 2022.  We were pleased to welcome Jen Baldry as Chair of Council and Zenab Barry as a Director. Hannah Lynes stepped down as a director and was thanked for nearly 4 years of insight and diligence in support of effective MVPs. The annual report for April 2021 to March 2022 can be found here.  It was agreed that future NMV council meetings will be open to all members, and that the criteria for membership of the CIC will be reviewed at the next council meeting in January.

Summary of MVP National Support planned for September 2022 – March 2023

What is the purpose of this national support?

This national support aims to support the effectiveness of local MVPs by supporting MVP chairs and members in their work. It complements local and regional support and focuses on those elements of support that can be provided most effectively at a national level.

What are the objectives for the national support offer?

The national support offer will focus on the following objectives (listed in the order of priority with which they have been raised with us by MVP members):

  1. To improve the alignment of MVP resourcing with the workload of MVPs,
  2. To raise awareness of MVPs amongst diverse service users and staff,
  3. To provide greater clarity around expectations relating to MVPs.

Who will deliver this support and how do we know it will meet the needs of MVPs?

National Maternity Voices (NMV) has been commissioned by NHS England to co-produce and deliver this support. Having now co-produced the support offer (see our report), NMV will work collaboratively with stakeholders including MVP chairs/members and NHSE, to ensure the support is aligned to the current needs of MVPs. We will evaluate the support by asking how well MVP chairs and members feel their MVP has been supported from a national level.

What support will be provided?

We will immediately start work on the following priority projects:

  • Coproduce regular national video calls for and with MVP chairs, to facilitate communication between chairs and with national decision-makers. 
  • Identify the key NHS staff members who have influence over MVPs and  communicate to them key elements of national guidance relating to MVPs.
  • Coproduce an induction process and information pack for new chairs.

Other support will include the following activity, subject to ongoing collaboration with MVP chairs and members:

  • Developing a resource bank for MVPs
  • Facilitating national collaboration between MVP chairs and NHSE
  • Email enquiries helpdesk for MVP members and others
  • Peer support, provided through existing social media channels and additionally through the NHS Futures platform.
  • Continuing support for the Nova Network alongside engagement with Black, Asian and ethnic minority MVP chairs about future support
  • Map of MVPs on the NMV web site
  • Focused newsletters/updates for MVP chairs and members.
  • Raising the national profile of MVPs – e.g. responding to requests from national organisations for MVP chairs as conference speakers or other collaboration with MVPs.
  • Training for MVP chairs and multidisciplinary groups offered as a paid-for service.



Barriers to Accessing Maternity Services Survey

Return to NMV in Health and Wellbeing Alliance updates page for update blogs and other ways to get involved.

Following the announcement of our involvement in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance’s Maternity Consortium group last Summer and the launch of our Maternity Service User Register, we are keen to share our barriers survey (also embedded below – now closed).

Continue reading “Barriers to Accessing Maternity Services Survey”