Our Midwife Champions, Angie Griffiths and Laura Lewinson, are supporting and leading midwives and maternity support workers in the pilot of our Black Maternity Matters programme, which is helping to improve outcomes for Black pregnant women and their babies.
Inspired by Black Mothers Matter’s vision that one day Black mothers will no longer be disproportionately in danger during pregnancy and the first year after birth, Black Maternity Matters has been developed by the West of England AHSN in partnership with Representation Matters and BCohCo.
Angie and Laura are key team members of our collaborative delivering the pilot, providing midwifery clinical content and context to support the design and delivery of the training.
This course should be mandatory for all health professionals. Personally, it has heightened my listening abilities and strengthened my advocacy skills.
Angie Griffiths is a registered nurse and midwife with over 30 years’ experience within a clinical midwifery setting. She qualified as a nurse in 1986 and then completed midwifery training at Southmead School of Midwifery Bristol, qualifying in 1990.
Angie has practised midwifery at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol for 20 years. She’s inspirational and passionate about midwifery and has a strong sense of advocacy and respecting everyone. She’s recently won a staff Trust award for upholding the Trust values.
Angie thrives on learning and teaching and gained a First-Class BSc in Health and Social Care by distance learning whilst working and raising her three children. She’s experienced at teaching mothers, student midwives and colleagues and believes we can all learn something from every situation.
Hearing accounts from our parent partners during the project has been incredibly powerful in understanding how poor treatment during childbirth can affect women and their families.
Laura has been a midwife for over seven years and currently works on the Transitional Care ward at St Michael’s Hospital, caring for babies who need a bit of extra support after birth.
One of the things Laura enjoys most about being a midwife is building relationships with families based on trust and respect and supporting them to make decisions about their care.
Laura says: “Hearing accounts from our parent partners during the project has been incredibly powerful in understanding how poor treatment during childbirth can affect women and their families. I have reflected so much on the way I speak to people and the language I use since hearing these accounts and I want to share this with my colleagues to help end the health inequalities faced by Black and Asian women accessing maternity care.”
Posted on September 2, 2022
