Friday 5 May is International Day of the Midwife, an annual celebration recognising and celebrating the amazing work of midwives globally. International Day of the Midwife was founded by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and is celebrated every year on 5th May, since 1992. The theme for this year’s is ‘Together again: from evidence to reality’.
Midwives have a vital role in caring for and supporting women, their babies and their families throughout pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal care. Every day the NHS supports the birth of 1,600 babies and Midwives and other NHS staff work tirelessly to care for women and babies. That works out at roughly one birth every 54 seconds.
At Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, our Midwifery staff have supported the delivery of over 3200 babies between 5th May 2022 to 30th April 2023, with 19 babies born on the busiest day!
To mark International Day of the Midwife, staff at the Trust will be celebrating with bite sized learning sessions, cake and tea, lunchtime yoga sessions and more!
The Trust will also be celebrating Midwifery staff at our annual Pride in Nursing and Midwifery event on Friday 12 May, which is also International Nurses Day. Each year, the event sees Nursing and Midwifery colleagues come together to hear from internal and external guest speakers about their experiences and to celebrate the professions.
As International Day of the Midwife is an opportunity to recognise and thank Midwives, we wanted to share some recent feedback from patients who were cared for by our maternity team:
“The midwifes and all the staff on the Labour and Joan Booker Ward were absolutely amazing and all work so hard. Very happy and grateful for them, thank you just doesn't feel enough.”
“I had a really positive experience and am so grateful to every member of staff who took care of me.”
“The midwife team are amazing, every midwife I’ve seen has been so friendly, caring and really explained every detail!”
Andrea Lewis, Chief Nurse, said: “I want to extend a huge thank you to our Midwifery team on behalf of everyone at the Trust. We are extremely grateful for all that you do to care for and support our patients. I look forward to celebrating with colleagues at our annual Pride in Nursing and Midwifery event later this month.”
Pictured above: Midwives at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
