MIDIRS and NCT – working as one

MIDIRS and NCT aim to improve maternity care and the experiences of expectant mothers, new parents and their babies.

Both organisations have long shared a commitment to providing evidence-based information for health care professionals and parents and encouraging continued professional learning and development of services to meet the needs of mothers, fathers and babies.

Increased joint initiatives and discussions over recent years have culminated in the formal signing of a merge agreement on 31st March 2011 between the two organisations. The new partnership is seen as a natural progression and aims to achieve common goals by working more effectively as one.

The merge embodies a vision of integrated communication through maternity services, health care professionals and pregnant women, their partners and carers. It also means individual subscribers to both MIDIRS and NCT services will benefit from greater opportunities, including increased access to the resources of both organisations.

Since December 2008, MIDIRS Midwifery Digest has been distributed with a copy of Perspective: the NCT publication for parent-centred midwifery. Since February 2010, NCT’s 2000 strong network of students and qualified antenatal teachers, breastfeeding counsellors and postnatal leaders have benefited from access to MIDIRS online subscription service.

Looking ahead, there are plans for the two organisations to work together to develop more visible products for consumers as well as resources for education and training.

Overall, the MIDIRS and NCT partnership provides a much stronger, evidence based entity which aims to achieve positive change in maternity care for all women.

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Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, EastEnders was only a year old and the average UK house price was less than £40,000. It was the year 1986, and the MIDIRS Reference Database had just been delivered into the world to an expectant midwifery community. From its humble beginnings in the filing cabinets of a small, tatty basement office in Camden, London (the first article added to the Database was, rather appropriately, entitled ‘In search of the future’), the MIDIRS Reference Database is now a sophisticated online facility boasting almost 186,000 records relevant to the midwifery profession.

The CEMACH Report 2007

The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust:

‘Intriguing students, fascinating midwives’!

These words were written by Sue Macdonald, Education & Research Manager at the RCM, after attending the presentation of the Iolanthe annual awards in 2011.

‘Looking beyond, aiming to do that little extra’

Sue described: ‘… students doing intriguing electives all over the world, and midwives undertaking such a fascinating range of projects. ... It made me think of the energy that midwives and student midwives have, in not just doing the job we do, but looking beyond, aiming to do that little extra, improving the care even more’. She also said ‘If you haven’t heard of Iolanthe, take a look at www.iolanthe.org/Awards.html

For further information and application forms, visit www.iolanthe.org

The aim of the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust is to improve care for mothers, babies and their families through assisting midwives in their professional development.

Closing date for applications: Friday 27th JANUARY 2011