Publish date: 5 May 2025
Monday, 5 May marks the annually celebrated International Day of the Midwife.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals are celebrating the hard work and dedication of all our midwifery colleagues today and have interviewed three of our midwifery colleagues to give you an insight into their roles.
Bridget Lees, Chief Nursing, AHP and Midwifery Officer commented, “I am so proud of each of our midwifes at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals. International Day of the Midwife is a day to celebrate all that it means to be a midwife and to be proud of the care we give to women and their families.
“We have achieved a great deal in very difficult times over the last year and I’d like to use this opportunity to say a personal thank you to all our midwives for their hard work and dedication.”
Below you can also find some feedback from mother's who have been cared for by our incredible midwives.
To celebrate international day of the midwife we spoke with three midwives at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.
Read their stories here:
Jane Booth, a shift leader on the Delivery Suite, chose a career in midwifery after working as a Surgical and Urology nurse at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals for 3 years then in Saudi Arabia for 2 years. Jane was inspired to be a nurse and to follow in her mums’ footsteps, who was a sister on the Urology ward for many years. Jane then undertook her midwifery training in 2003.
During the training Jane quickly realised that being a midwife was more than delivering babies, “I realised it was much more than that, it is about providing compassionate care, building trust and making critical decisions under pressure.”
For the first three years after qualifying Jane started her new career as a rotational midwife before moving to the delivery suite at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
“My two-decade-long journey in midwifery has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Each day brings new challenges and experiences from the joy of a successful birth to the heartache and sadness of loss and everything in between.
“I am proud of my impact as a midwife and am inspired to continue this work. I am deeply grateful for the support and camaraderie of my colleagues and proud of all of them for all they do each and every day.”
Laura Hilton, recently qualified in September 2024 and shared her experience 8 months on from joining the BTH family.
Laura qualified alongside 16 other midwifery students who all secured roles at Blackpool Teachings Hospitals maternity unit.
It was during covid that Laura decided she wanted to explore a career change from being a dental nurse to midwife. With the support of her partner and family Laura was able to complete her studies and is now thriving and happy in her new career.
As a newly qualified midwife Laura is supported through a preceptorship programme which ensures that skills are practiced and those newly qualified gain a variety of experiences before they can be done independently and confidently, Laura commented: “We get a variety of experiences like medicines administration, venipuncture and cannulation but also just managing your own workflow and how to best support our women for example some come to us with complex social needs or medical history.
“As a newly qualified midwife, that can be quite daunting but over the few months that I've been here I feel much more comfortable to manage these cases confidently with the support of the programme and the amazing team around me. We all support each other and there are no silly questions.”
Commenting on her favourite part of being a midwife Laura highlighted it was being there for the women during labour that makes her love her job so much, “I love just caring for women in labour, being one-to-one, supporting them and holding their hands talking them through it when they are pushing and advocating for them to have the birth experience they want.”
On International day of the midwife, Laura had a final message for anyone wanting to pursue a career in midwifery, “You've just got to chase your dreams, it’s never too late to do something that you really want to do.”
Dawn Burrows, one of our longest serving midwives at Blackpool has been at the Trust for an incredible 44 years. In 1981, Dawn started her Registered Nurse training at the School of Nursing, which at the time was both salaried for and delivered at the hospital.
After qualifying, Dawn’s first position as a registered nurse was in Gynaecology for two years, however to progress she needed to do her midwifery training.
Dawn enjoyed the midwifery training so much that she didn’t go back to nursing in Gynaecology and since 1988 has been a valued member of the team working across many different areas and specialties within the Maternity services.
Choosing to have her two children in Blackpool, Dawn commented: “I felt most comfortable here, I knew the team and was confident with the surroundings and services we offered. Unfortunately, I was unable to have a home birth with my second son however it is something I am personally very passionate about.”
After returning from maternity leave Dawn started working as a community midwife, “Being a community midwife is about working with the whole family and building those relationships and trust with them. People open up more to us being in their own familiar surroundings and it is part of our job to ensure that all women are offered safe, high quality patient centred care before and after birth.”
Dawn shared an example of a family she supported, “I was the midwife for two sisters, both chose home births, and I was there to deliver four of the five children for that family at home. One of the sisters had one baby in hospital on advice after some potential complications.
“They specifically requested me and to this day even though the children are now in their 20’s I still see the family in my local community.”
Dawn proudly works as a community midwife across the Fylde coast and still loves the variety of her role 44 years later.
Feedback from our Patients
I do not know the name of the shift lead midwife when I gave birth to my little girl at 04.20am on 19 December 2022 but she supported me through a breech vaginal birth and prevented the need for a C Section. Jenn Fogg was my midwife that night too and she was amazing
I would like to give a special thanks to Karen Hayden firstly. She is such a credit to the trust, a really lovely human in general.
I would also like to give a shout out to Debbie and Sophie who was then a student midwife when she delivered my baby in October 23. I am due my 7th baby in 9 weeks so I’m really hoping the experience is as good as the last lot
I thought it was high time I shared my feedback about the brilliant midwives I had the pleasure of working with in my pregnancy.
I’ll start with my Community Midwife, Melissa, who was fantastic at every appointment. Her positivity and support made me feel so at ease for a first time mum. She always made me feel safe and confident about every step. She went above and beyond to make sure I had all the information I needed and it made such a difference having one named midwife throughout.
The birth itself was a planned caesarean section on Wednesday, 19 February, 2025. It didn’t exactly go to plan, the spinal couldn’t be placed so I had to go under general anaesthetic. This and the repeated attempts to place the spinal were extremely distressing but the team in theatre were absolutely incredible. The anaesthetists around me were phenomenal, including one named Jessica who kept me calm and distracted me from all the pain and discomfort.
She was joined by a midwife named Amber who I need to express how eternally grateful I am for. Amber was there with me throughout the surgery and immediately made me feel at ease as we were preparing for it and during the spinal attempts too. She held my hand and encouraged me to stay strong. When we found out I was going under general, she promised to keep holding my hand the entire time and that she would tell me when my little girl was here even though I was asleep. It is a gut wrenching thing to miss your child’s birth and there’s no getting around the pain I will carry for that moment being lost. However, I will never forget the kindness of Amber in that moment. The care and empathy she showed to me, a terrified first time Mum whose heart was breaking at her birth not going to plan. Amber went to extraordinary lengths to make the experience as positive as possible. I am so grateful to her and hope that this feedback can be passed on to her so she knows what an incredible difference she made to my experience.
Marie & Ruby attended my birth on the 28th February 2025. They protected my birthing space and made me feel at ease the whole way through. They were integral to my positive birth experience and I cannot speak highly enough of them. I had a planned home birth and unfortunately due to staffing I came into hospital. Initially I was anxious but as soon as they entered the room and the way they treated me throughout made such a difference. The trust and respect I received during my VBAC water birth was exactly what I needed, to allow birth to unfold beautifully. I think it’s such an important attribute of a midwife to be able to have a hands off approach led by the mother. Blackpool are very lucky to have these midwives and so are any other parents giving birth who have them in attendance. I wish I could do it again and again and I’ll forever be grateful for their support, care and excellence.
I would like to say a big thank you to Abbie Hitchen who was my midwife on Christmas Eve 2024. Abbie was outstanding, not leaving my side the whole time, making us laugh and being supportive of all our wants and needs. A credit to the trust, thank you so much!
I’d also like to say thank you to Levi and Charlotte who cared for me numerous times throughout my pregnancy on maternity day unit. There are not enough words to express how much your care and support meant to me.
Stacey- who delivered Rosa and was phenomenal, she helped me keep my cool when I was panicking and was lovely throughout it all.
Cat- who was a godsend with my care pre delivery. She listened to all my fears and anxieties after my first birth. She bent over backwards for me to help what was a stressful time so much less stressful after a traumatic birth the first time round, with everything she put in place for us. We will always be thankful for all the support she gave us.
Both of them played a huge part in our pregnancy and delivery and will always be a huge part of our story. We will be forever grateful for the two of them and they are a credit to Blackpool Vic.
I would just like to take the time to thank everyone at Blackpool Victoria hospital for the care I received when having my baby boy in February. After having a few issues with the birth of my daughter in 2023 after falling pregnant with my little boy, let’s just say I was really worrying about having to give birth again however I can’t even put into words how different the two births were and what an amazing time I had this time round. I came into be induced due to reduced movements from the moment we got onto the ward the atmosphere was completely different.
Over the next 24 hours we were just left to let the pessery do it thing until my waters broke the next evening, my partner went to reception to let someone know this and was told someone would be with us as soon as they could, after an hour and a half my partner went to remind them just in case they had forgot to which it was explained that our midwife got called off for an emergency and got introduced to Kirsty who put me on the monitor and within ten minutes I was being examined and took down to delivery due to his heart rate dropping during contractions for longer that they’d like for me to stay up on Ward D. Almost immediately as I got into delivery I was introduced to lots of different people ‘just in case’ where I was explained too that the doctor may decide a c section.
He did indeed decide a category 1 emergency c section during which I lost a lot of blood. Kirsty our midwife from Ward D stayed with us the entire time even taking the most amazing photos of our son's first moments and continuing to stay with us in recovery until switch over when she swapped with another midwife whose name I can’t remember but I think Emma who was absolutely amazing, my last birth I had a lot of questions that didn’t get answered so this time I think I spent the entire time asking questions which she answered with a smile on her face every single time and never made me feel like I was annoying her with all the questions therefore causing me to come away with no questions at all and an amazing birth experience due to her explaining everything in such detail, I will never forget her for helping me come to terms with having a birth that I didn’t think I’d have.
On the ward we had Francis and he is such a credit he made me laugh every time we saw him even though I was obviously in a lot of pain and made the day so much brighter. I have mentioned a few however would also like to say a big thank you to Karen and Michelle who also cared for me.
I just wanted to start off by saying the midwives at BTH are amazing. We were admitted for induction on Friday, 11 April and was eventually discharged on Easter Sunday.
After communication failures, 2 failed inductions, followed by a long Monday on the hormone drip to a decision to have a c section early hours of Tuesday 15th because I could not take it any longer.. the midwives stayed by my side throughout and we could not have gotten through it without them!
If we could thank each and every one of them, we would but we would like to personally thank…
Michelle (Ward D) - from the moment we met you we knew we loved you, we looked forward to seeing you especially on those days we wanted to give up. You made us laugh when we wanted to cry, you took our minds off what was going on by telling us stories. And your overall presence was just so calming.. and if I was to have a second baba, I would want to see your face!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking care of me before and for taking care of both me and my baby after 💖
Loren (Ward D) - Thank you for being so kind, calm and loving towards us before and after having our baby. Thank you for going above and beyond to gain answers as to why tests were completed on my baby and for calming my anxiety over Neonatel care. You’re a star, and you made our days and nights brighter.
Lauren (Ward D) - Thank you for everything you did for us whilst on the ward. Even though we didn’t see you much, you made us smile and took our minds off how miserable we were to still be in that bay wanting to go home! Thank you for getting us that side room for our last night whilst we waited for Neo Natal, you gave us a little bit of sanity back you angel!!
Ellie and Amy (Delivery Suite) - Girls thank you so so much for helping and guiding us through that long Monday, of starting our labour journey.. sorry you had to change cause of my waters Ellie. Thank you both for making us comfortable and for calming our anxiety by talking us through everything.. you made us laugh when we were at the brink of exhaustion and kept us going with the positive energy. Amy, you already are amazing but you will make an amazing midwife when you qualify!! I hope a job at BTH comes your way because you are an asset and belong there. We cannot thank you both enough! Thank you for being a part of our journey and helping to make our family complete.
Cherie & Demi (Delivery Suite) - Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We could not have gotten through that long Monday night without the both of you. We were nervous about the change over of midwives but I’m glad we had you both as you were amazing! You helped to keep the anxieties down and made it a place of calm. You comforted us when we needed it and explained things further when things became clouded. Thank you for being there for us, especially when we decided to have that c section which we all know I was dreading! I could not have gotten through that without you both talking me through it.
Cherie, thank you for speaking with the surgical team to enable me to wear my necklace so that I could have my mum with me. You don’t understand how much that meant to me and I will honestly never forget that!!
Demi, thank you so much for taking so many pictures throughout the C-section, they are perfect and just what we wished for.. we will treasure them forever. Good luck in your studies and you will be an amazing midwife (though you already are) when you qualify!
Thank you everyone on Ward D and Delivery.
We did not expect to stay for as long as we did that’s for sure!! But you all made the experience for us and cared for us all amazingly. Thank you for being a part of bringing our precious baby girl into the world.
