The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust: maternityservices

Kathryn Owens - Interim Deputy Head of Midwifery	When I first began working in the NHS I was employed as a healthcare assistant on an Intensive Care Unit of a North East Trust. From there I went on to undertake my nurse training and when I qualified I worked as a staff nurse on a Respiratory Ward caring for patients with long term conditions. I then undertook the 18 month midwifery BSc Honours course. When I qualified as a midwife I worked as part of an integrated care team, providing care for women in the community as part of a case load. Part of my shifts during the week alongside providing antenatal and postnatal care would be spent caring for women on the labour ward during the labour period. A little while later I was given the opportunity to become part of the research team at the hospital I worked. I incorporated working in research alongside my community midwifery and labour ward commitments, engaging and educating women to recruit them onto obstetric trials to develop future practice. Many of the trials I was involved in have since completed and now the findings of the trials are used in current midwifery practice. In 2015 I moved from the North East to Kings Lynn. When I first joined the trust I worked as a Delivery Suite Co-ordinator and then last year was given a fantastic opportunity to apply for the position I am currently in which is Matron for the Midwifery Led Pathway and Gynaecology Outpatients.
Kate Jackman - Divisional General Manager	I joined the Trust in 2003 as a Clinical Audit facilitator following the completion of my degree in Business and Management at Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge. During my time at QEH I have had various roles including Workforce planning manager and Cancer service manager however for the last 10 year I have had operational roles within Medicine, Surgery and now the Women and Children Division. My key skills are communication, people skills and I have a passion for service change to ensure high quality care is delivered to are patients.
Jodie Jupe - Interim Inpatient Matron	I completed my midwifery degree and started work at Southend University Hospital in 2003. I completed my preceptorship and then spent 4 years as a Band 6 midwife rotating and working in all aspects of midwifery practice. I had the opportunity during this time to qualify as a mentor. In 2008 I was successful in obtaining a band 7 Labour Ward Coordinator post and then Maternity Risk Manager. In 2011 I moved to Norfolk with my 2 children and started work at the QEH. My first allocation was to community where I worked within the Red Team. I then rotated within all areas before progressing to Quality Assurance Midwife and a CDS Coordinator. I completed my Newborn Midwifery Examiner course in 2017. I have been in my current role as Inpatient Midwifery Matron since July 2019. I have the privilege to lead a fantastic team and to provide senior midwifery leadership within the Women & Children division ensuring the delivery of high standards of care and patient experience. I believe that our staff are our greatest asset and want our staff to feel that this is a hospital where they belong, they have a voice and that they work in an environment where they can develop.
Holly Carney - Risk and Governance Matron	I completed my midwifery training at the James Paget Hospital and came to work at the QEH as a qualified midwife in March 2006. Prior to completing my training I spent 3 years in the Royal Air Force as an Intelligence Analyst which I opted to leave following the birth of my daughter. In the year after joining the QEH I completed my preceptorship, I then spent 6 years as a Band 6 midwife rotating and working in all aspects of midwifery practice. I had the opportunity during this time to complete my Degree and to Qualify as a Mentor and a Newborn Midwifery Examiner, I also participated in the redevelopment of the Day Assessment Unit to expand the service provision for women and extend access through enhanced opening hours. In 2013 following a year as a band 6 community midwife I progressed into the role of Community Midwifery Team Leader, I spent 5 years managing the Blue team to include the oversight of the satellite Antenatal service and Day Assessment Unit provision which were provided at North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech. During this time and following the opening of Waterlily Birth Centre; I assisted with the launch of the new Midwifery-Led Pathway. I was part of the project team that selected and implemented the electronic Maternity records system currently in use within the trust; this included providing support with training of staff and support on the floor following go live. I have been in my current role as Risk and Governance Matron since September 2018 and enjoy having the opportunity to work with both patients and staff with the aim to ensure that the care provided within our service is high quality, evidence based and in line with both local and national guidance.
Annabelle Howard - Practice Development Midwife	I completed my midwifery training at The Rosie Maternity Hospital, Cambridge and worked there for 3 years. This is where I completed my preceptorship and rotated throughout all of the areas within the maternity hospital. I had the opportunity to qualify as a mentor following my preceptorship and loved to teach and pass on my knowledge and skills to our future midwives. I worked on the postnatal ward as a core midwife for over a year, helping to lead the ward and develop postnatal care pathways and services for the women and babies we cared for. I first started at the QEH as a bank midwife while I was still at Cambridge and having commuted from King’s Lynn to Cambridge for several years I decided it was time that I came home and continue my career at The QEH, and not only that but I loved my experience here. I worked within the Day Assessment Unit for my first rotation within the trust and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I have been in my current role as Practice Development Midwife since September 2018 and I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey I have been on while developing the role. Training and development underpins all aspects of clinical practice and is paramount in the provision of safe and effective care. I am responsible for planning and facilitating mandatory training in line with the Trust and National policies, and reporting to the Head of Midwifery. I support all grades of staff from students to doctors within the unit to develop and update their skills and competencies, as a team we aim to work together effectively and efficiently in an open and safe environment focusing on team working. A main proportion of my role also involves the administration and collation of training records, writing reports and preparation for all training delivered within the Maternity Unit. It is a very challenging but also a very satisfying role, especially when all the knowledge and skills we have as team come together to improve the care we give to our women and their families.
Catherine Weatherill - Triage / Waterlily Manager	I am an experienced midwife who has worked in many different areas of midwifery. I enjoy supporting women in labour, especially waterbirths. I was involved in the developing and opening of Waterlily Birth Centre and am now responsible for the daily running of the unit. I am also a qualified Professional Midwifery Advocate. This means that I support midwives to provide excellent care, and support women in their pregnancy and birth choices.
Louise Goodman - Delivery Suite Manager	Awaiting bio
Kelly Wilson - Castleacre Ward Manager	My drive to become a Midwife stemmed from having my Twin daughters at a very young age and having the knowledge of how important my own personal midwives’ roles were in supporting me through my journey as a new mum, I began my quest to become a midwife through training as a student at the University of East Anglia in 2005, at the age of 24. I qualified as a midwife in 2008 and have trained and worked at the QEH throughout my career. Since starting at the QEH I have worked in all areas of midwifery, most of which in the hospital setting. I completed a development post on the antenatal and postnatal ward, as Deputy Ward Manager and gained a promotion to my current position of Castleacre Ward Manager in October 2018. The journey to becoming a parent is one of the most exciting events in our lives but often one of the most daunting. I feel strongly that families should get the best information and support to help them in their transition to parenthood. Therefore, I am very passionate in leading the team on Castleacre Ward to providing the most caring, safe and effective care possible within our maternity department. Within the ward setting we pride ourselves in supporting families in all aspects of caring for their newborn, with support offered with feeding their babies, bath and cares demonstrations, to give but a few examples. We are a friendly team, who are always striving to improve our practices to give parents the best possible and most up to date care and advice available. I am a mother to three wonderful children and live locally to the QEH. In my spare time, I like to keep an active hand in helping my local community and have been elected as a Parish Councillor for three years. I also started a local community group to raise funds for our local children’s parks and took the lead in obtaining the groups Registered Charity status and continue my roles as one of the Charity’s Trustees and the Secretary. I really enjoy my role as a Midwife & Castleacre Ward Manager and love being part of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Team. It has enabled me to give that little something back to the NHS for the support that I received!
Dr Anoop Surrendran - Lead Consulant Anaestetist for Obstetrics	Anoop joined the team as consultant anaesthetist in 2008 and progressed to being the lead obstetric anaesthetist in 2009. He accomplished his special interest in obstetrics through completion of an advanced training module at The Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge. Anoop has represented our maternity unit through lectures at national and regional platforms. He is passionately involved in Human Factor training at the multidisciplinary level and is currently the Director for the Deanery’s Obstetric Crisis Resource Management course in Addenbrookes. Over the years he has been instrumental in introducing many positive changes that helped to strengthen partnership between individual teams and thereby, improved patient specific outcomes. Being a key team player on the labour ward, Anoop finds the company of his colleagues the most rewarding aspect of his job. Outside work he is an active dad to a teenage daughter and a tweenager son. He is also an ardent fitness enthusiast.
Jayne Cozens - Infant Feeding Coordinator	I have been a midwife since 1992, prior to that I was a registered nurse, I trained for both at the QEH. I am married with 2 children both of which were born at the QEH. During my nursing career, I have had the opportunity to work in different hospitals and departments. Since qualifying as a midwife, I have been chairperson of the local breastfeeding initiative and went onto teaching breastfeeding to staff and antenatal women. I have a particular interest in breastfeeding/feeding issues as I breastfed both my own children, but not without difficulty and I feel passionate that mothers should get the best information and support with their feeding journey as possible. I have worked in all areas of midwifery over the years, the majority of which was in the community where I became team leader. I now have a specialist role in Infant Feeding and since being in the role, I have been the driving force in achieving The Baby Friendly Accreditation Award for the hospital. Last year I qualified as a Lactation Consultant to enrich my role as Infant Feeding Lead. I am currently training to be a tongue tie specialist to be able to perform frenulotomy, to improve on the service that we currently have. In my spare time, I am a craniosacral therapist and a holistic therapist and as such very interested in using alternative therapies. I also give my time to a charity support group each week called Lactation Motivation, giving local support and training to mothers who are breastfeeding, some of whom want to further their knowledge so they can support other breastfeeding mothers and become Peer Supporters.
Flo Crawley - Infant Feeding Coordinator	It is an honour to share the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife role at the QEHKL, and I have had the privilege to be a midwife for 8 years now. I trained in Brighton, and prior to my current role, I have worked mostly as a community and a labour care midwife, with a particular passion for facilitating and protecting physiological labour, birth, and breastfeeding. I am also a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). How women, babies and families feel as they experience care through maternity services is what drives my practice. I want everyone to feel respected, listened to, and given real choices concerning their care and their bodies. I have two young children, and I have been breastfeeding (not without challenges!) for over 3 years now. Both my babies were born at home, in the water, and I was lucky enough to be supported through my last labour by two of our fantastic midwives at the QEHKL. Having Specialist Infant Feeding Midwives is important in every hospital and community; feeding our babies is a primal part of parenthood, and the deep loving connections we make as our feeding relationship develops really matter. They matter to the health of individuals, mothers, babies, and families, but also, to society as a whole. My job is all about ensuring that we are all always trying our hardest to support you in this amazing part of parenthood, and finding ways to improve wherever we can as well.
Tracy Cross - Antenatal/Newborn Screening & Fetal Medicine Coordinator	I have worked at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital since 1983 both as a nurse and over the past 30 years as a midwife. During those many years I have worked in all areas of the Maternity department and enjoyed each one of them for many differing reasons. Following the birth of my daughter in 1991 I worked in the community setting as a member of the Amber Team. We were a group of midwives who cared for women through all stages of pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. I loved working within this small team and caring for these women. Following this, I spent 10 years working night shifts on both Central Delivery Suite and on the Antenatal/postnatal ward. This fitted in with my family commitments but it also meant I was able to support a lot of women in the wee small hours! Over the past 5 years I have worked as the Antenatal/Newborn Screening Coordinator. This role involves making sure that all pregnant women receive their screening blood tests and scans at the appropriate time, and supporting women with positive results. I also support some women who may have to make difficult decisions during their pregnancies due to these results or problems that are identified with their babies at their scan appointments. My role also involves making sure that each baby born at this hospital is offered and has the screening tests available to them this includes the Newborn blood spot which every parent dreads! I absolutely love my job and wouldn’t change it for the world. I meet so many wonderful people every day and am extremely proud to serve the families of West Norfolk and the surrounding areas.
Suzy Duhig - Antenatal/Newborn Screening & Fetal Medicine Coordinator	I qualified as a midwife in 2008 at the age of 40, having completed my training as a mature student at the QEH. Since then I have worked mainly as a community midwife, until I took up the role of Deputy Screening and Fetal Medicine Midwife in 2016. Very recently I gained promotion to became one of two Antenatal and Newborn Screening Coordinators. My current role is both challenging and rewarding and I am very lucky to work in a small, close-knit and very supportive team. Together we run the Screening and Fetal Medicine service at QEH. Having come in to the profession at a fairly late stage in life I have had a variety of careers before midwifery including Veterinary Nurse, Food Microbiologist, Co-owner of a shop and Post Office, Book-Keeping and Payroll Clerk and full-time parent. I have two daughters who are now in their twenties and it was the midwives who cared for me back when they were born who inspired me to take up this incredible career. Often our team is involved with families facing very difficult situations and decisions in their pregnancy. I find the support and care that I am privileged to be able to give to parents at such an important time of their lives very rewarding. The journey to parenthood each pregnant woman takes is unique to her and I love the way each part of the whole team at QEH works together to make that journey as smooth as possible. In my own time I like cycling, swimming, walking my dog and a bit of amateur gardening. I also love binging a good TV drama series, reading fiction and listening to music, especially live performances.
Sharon Younge - Fetal Medicine and Bereavement Specialist Midwife	I have been a midwife since 2000, prior to that I was a registered nurse, I trained for both at the QEH. I am married with 2 children both of which were born at the QEH. During my nursing career, I have had the opportunity to work in different hospitals and departments. I’ve worked in all areas of midwifery over the years, the majority of the time within the hospital setting. The latter part of my Midwifery career I’ve spent on Central Delivery Suite where for two years I was a Delivery Suite Coordinator. Since April 2018 I have moved into a new role and am now the Fetal Medicine and Bereavement specialist Midwife. Pregnancy can be complicated and needs closer monitoring with involvement from Fetal Medicine Services at neighbouring tietary units. Within this role, I ensure a timely referral and coordinate the care plan for the individual woman. I feel hugely privileged to be able to provide this service alongside caring for bereaved women and their families care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust. I work closely with other members of the team including doctors, midwives, chaplaincy and mortuary staff. It’s vitally important that we work closely together to deliver a seemless service through this most devastating time. Within this role Im in a privileged position to be able to support women and their families when their pregnancy is complicated and they require further input from specialist services in other tertiary units.
Catherine Cooke - DAU, Antenatal clinic and Gynaecology Outpatient Manager	I qualified as a midwife here at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2015. On qualification, I chose to stay at QEH, and spent 3 years rotating to all clinical areas to gain experience in all aspects of midwifery care. I really enjoyed working with the team in Brancaster outpatients, and when I was working in the Day Assessment Unit I developed a passion for improving the antenatal care and experience for women with high risk pregnancies. Antenatal clinic is the ‘shop window’ for the hospital maternity services and often the first experience women have of a hospital. The care and planning that goes on in the ANC has influence on the outcome of a woman’s pregnancy and also her overall experience of the service we provide. When the opportunity came to apply for the role of DAU, Antenatal clinic and Gynaecology outpatient manager I decided to apply and was appointed in June 2108. I'm really enjoying my role and learning new skills, particularly in gynaecological outpatient procedures. The team I work with are such a committed group of people and I look forward to working with them in planning, developing and improving future services for women.
Jo Masters - Yellow Team Community Team Leader	I have worked as a Midwife at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital since 2007. For the last 11 years I have specialised as a Community Midwife and I became Team Leader for the Yellow Team Community Midwives (covering Downham Market and Swaffham areas) in June 2019. During this time I have also undertaken additional qualifications at Master Level to become a Supervisor of Midwives and also to undertake the Newborn Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) which needs to be performed within the first 72 hours of delivery and is part of the NHS screening process. I chose community midwifery as I am passionate about providing good continuity of care and it gives me a good opportunity to act as the woman’s advocate – helping guide her through her choices and options in the pregnancy, her wishes at delivery and after the baby is born. Each day in the community setting is very different and I love the variety that this provides; whether it is undertaking my clinic at Watlington Medical Centre, supporting women and their babies at home in the postnatal period, working on our wonderful Midwifery Led Birth Unit, providing health and pregnancy education or having the privilege of attending home births. The longer I work in the Community, the better it gets and there is nothing more satisfying than meeting women again in their second, third or even fourth pregnancies. Such continuity provides a deep understanding, trust and bond between the woman and her midwife.
Sue Hasnip- Green Team Community Team Leader	I trained as a general nurse in the early 1980s qualifying as an SRN and then working fulltime nights on a male medical ward. I did my midwifery training at Doncaster General Hospital qualifying in February 1985. I then worked as a midwife at Scunthorpe General Hospital, achieving my dream of becoming a Community Midwife in 1991. I worked in the team that pioneered integrated midwifery which was the fore-runner of the continuity of carer pathway we are endeavouring to implement now for the benefit of women and their babies. I also worked as a Community Midwife, in inner London for 3 years, which was very different from my other rural experience. I then moved to Lincolnshire and began work at the QEH Kings Lynn in 1998, once again working as a Community Midwife, and becoming leader of the Green Team in 2012. I have had the privilege of being the Midwife for Long Sutton for 15 years, and as I live in the community, and serve as a governor at the local primary school have had the great joy of seeing the babies I have cared for, growing up through school and even going to their proms! I am so fortunate to have been involved over many years with the “birth of families” sharing with them at the very best and most personal of times. I have 3 grown up daughters of whom I am immensely proud and about whom I often speak with women I care for, which I hope helps them see me as a real person as well as a caring professional. I am passionate about supporting women in making informed choices about their care, keeping them safe and ensuring the best experience possible around the birth of a child.
Sarah Roberts - Red Team Community Team Leader	Awaiting bio
Ruth Macfarlane -Blue Team Community Team Leader	I am based at North Cambs Hospital at Rowan Lodge in our New Maternity Community Hub. I have been a Qualified Midwife for the past 26 years and I was a qualified Nurse before this, so I have been in the profession for the past 33 years. I have worked out in the Blue team for the past 7 years and have recently taken on the post of Community Team Leader.