If I’m honest, when I first qualified in 2003, I thought I would be a Band 6 midwife for the rest of my career. I didn’t really understand the different pathways available, and I certainly didn’t have a long-term plan.
I knew one thing though, I loved birth.
From the moment I watched a homebirth as a student, I was drawn to intrapartum care. Even when I rotated through community and other areas, I always found myself coming back to labour ward. I loved the unpredictability, the teamwork, and the sheer responsibility that comes with supporting women and families at such a pivotal moment.
A few years into my career, I started to notice something else. The Labour Ward Coordinator role fascinated me. I could see how much impact that one person could have, not just on the safety of care, but on the experience of both staff and patients.
At just 24, I stepped into that role. I was met with some challenges being in this role at an early stage of my career as well as my age. Senior staff didn’t like being led by someone younger and with less experience. Women and families also commented on my age and wondering if I had enough experience to be the ‘senior’ midwife on shift. Luckily the clinical experience I had already been exposed to supported me with this as well as having the opportunity to develop my own leadership styles supporting the teams around me.
Although there were challenges, this was one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever done, but also one of the hardest. The pressure is real, and the responsibility can feel overwhelming. But it taught me more than I could have imagined about leadership, decision-making, and the importance of culture within a team.
For over a decade, I stayed close to labour ward, alongside developing other interests, including maternal medicine and enhanced maternity care. But during this time, something shifted.
I became curious.
Not just about doing the job, but about being an expert in my field. About understanding why we do what we do, and how we can improve it.
That curiosity led me to further study.
At the time, I didn’t have the traditional academic background expected for postgraduate study, and I had to be interviewed just to be considered for an MSc. There was a real concern that I might struggle.
But I took the chance, and over five years, I completed my MSc in Women’s Health. That experience changed how I saw myself. It wasn’t just about gaining a qualification, it was about realising I could step into spaces I hadn’t previously thought were open to me.
From there, opportunities started to open up.
I moved into education as a clinical skills facilitator, building on years of informal teaching I had done on the labour ward. I became more involved in service development, worked within multidisciplinary teams supporting women with complex conditions, and started to understand the wider system around maternity care.
I also completed a PGCE in clinical simulation and medical education, which further developed my interest in team working, culture, and how we support learning in practice.
Eventually, I felt ready to take the next step.
After years as a Band 7, I applied for a Consultant Midwife post at my local trust. The consultant midwife role is the highest point in the midwife’s clinical career and represents clinical excellence, leadership and academic capability. Consultant midwives provide inspirational clinical leadership to develop services for women, their babies and families reflect research and audit, are of high quality, appropriate and innovative. These are all highlighted in the 4 pillars of advanced practice: Leadership, Expert Practice, Education and Research. For example, Consultant midwives are experts in physiological birth and consultant obstetricians are experts in obstetrics.
When I was appointed this role I remember feeling incredibly proud when I was successful, but also reassured that all those years of clinical experience still grounded me. That experience continues to shape how I lead and how I make decisions.
Over the last six years, I’ve worked as a Consultant Midwife specialising in intrapartum care and personalised care planning, supporting teams to improve services and drawing constantly on both my clinical and academic background.
And now, I’ve taken another step.
I’ve recently been appointed as Head of Midwifery. As I am sure you are all aware there is a national spotlight on maternity services, which regularly questions the safety of our units. As the Head of Midwifery I will be the person in charge of how maternity services are run at the trust I work at, ensuring safe, effective, and patient-centered care, whilst also supporting the midwifery workforce and responding to the reports on how services need to be improved. I hope that all the years of being with women, famillies and staff will provide me with successes I hope to achieve in the role.
The first few years of being newly qualified can be tough, but use it as an opportunity to gain as much exposure and experience to really ground you before you decide what you want to do in your future career. You will never regret this, and will always draw on it throughout your career. Push yourself to work in different areas, or different trusts. I will never regret the time I spent with women, people and their families. They have taught me so much.
Reference:
https://rcm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/JGC2520-CM-Role-publication-v6-DIGITAL.pdf
