Juliet Rayment

Juliet is a sociologist and qualitative researcher specialising in maternal health. She works in the strategy team at the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

In approaching her Humanising Care Fellowship, Juliet wanted to explore how the whole maternity care community could help to support the retention of students and newly qualified midwives. Juliet saw students coming into the profession with passion and enthusiasm. This formed the foundation for midwifery that supports safe, compassionate care and positive relationships with women and families. Juliet wanted to use her time to explore how students, and those who support them, can keep that midwifery ‘spark’ as they move into practice.

Maternity services in the UK are currently facing significant challenges. Recent safety inquiries have highlighted serious cultural issues that affect both patient safety and the wellbeing of midwives and other staff. While these inquiries are a catalyst for important changes, the focus on what has gone wrong has also led to a decline in morale and confidence across the service. For students on placement, the experience can be particularly difficult as they navigate hierarchies, adapt to workplace cultures that may not reflect their values, and at times, may feel unheard or undervalued. These experiences can gradually dim the spark that inspired them to enter the profession.

Learning

In response, Juliet created the Positive Midwifery Project, which worked with student midwives to learn more about what they need in order to nurture that ‘spark’. She assembled a collaborator group of students, educators and policy professionals to support the work.

The collaborator group spoke about their own ‘midwifery spark’ and through a national survey (250 responses) they heard positive reflections from students, lecturers and practice supervisors. They then set a goal to produce a ‘top tips’ guide to share these positive experiences to help other students.. Alongside these stories, Juliet held workshops with two cohorts of student midwives (Year 1 and Year 3) to find out about their experiences.

Outputs and impact

Juliet created newsletters and audio updates to keep people updated with the progress of the project, which led to her being invited to speak on The Maternity and Midwifery Hour webinar series and writing an article for them.

The work resulted in articles in a number of outlets, as well as sparking conversation within the midwifery community. It provided a platform for others to share their views on an important issue within maternity services. The project has led to the creation of the Positive Midwifery Movement: a national community that will take the work forward.

Student midwives reported that the most meaningful feature of the project was to have their voices heard and respected on a par with other midwives. They felt the most significant achievement was the development of a community committed to continuing the work.