Share your experience
Dudley
MNVP
Dudley Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership engages with all women, birthing people and their families across the borough and welcomes them to share their stories of Maternity and Neonatal Care within Dudley.
With a diverse population accessing care at Russells Hall Hospital and out in the community, we are aware that these women and birthing people need to feel protected and empowered when they are on their pregnancy journey and beyond when they become parents. We want every woman and birthing person to feel included in decisions about their care and to understand what is happening and why.
The staff at Russells Hall Hospital and in the Dudley Community, from both the Maternity and Neonatal Departments, work closely with the Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership to ensure that they are listening to the voices of their women and birthing people. They are keen to make positive changes, to learn where necessary and to implement this learning across Maternity and Neonatal Services.
How are we helping
We work with organisations within the community, with the aim that we reach those in Dudley who might need or want to feed back to us through different means.
We will be hoping to continue evolving how we engage with our Service Users going forward, through use of the newly relaunched Family Hubs and other local community organisations, which will include Faith centres, Libraries and charities that already support families in Dudley.
We are connected with Tough Enough to Care, which is a Mental Health Charity that aims to support men’s Mental Health by removing the Stigma around accessing support. Initially set up with a focus being on men, it has now grown to include support for anyone who needs that additional support.
Meet The Members
Kim Bradley
Hi I am Kim Bradley, Lead Midwife for Clinical Transformation at The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. I have been a midwife at Russells Hall for 15 years working in both Inpatients and in Community.
I live in Dudley and have 2 children, my first was born at Russells Hall in 2018 and my second was born at home in 2020, both times I was cared for by Dudley Maternity Services.
I am now in the role of Lead Midwife for Clinical Transformation, a role which enables me to help make improvements to Dudley Maternity Services. A key part of making improvements is co-producing changes with our service users.
Hearing birthing people’s voices is essential and a great way to hear what Dudley families want is to work with The Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership. This forum enables me to hear the good and bad of people’s experiences and find areas of improvement. It also enables us to present new ideas to service users and get their feedback on proposed changes. Families are at the heart of everything we do and working with them ensures they get the right care at the right time, and the best possible birth experience.
Claire MacDiarmid
My name is Claire and I have been a Midwife for almost 20 years. I have worked in a variety of local hospitals and worked in all areas of Maternity services.
I have been the head of Midwifery at Russells Hall Hospital since the beginning of 2022 and one of my main aims is to ensure the voice of the families we care for is heard. Without this invaluable feedback, we will never be able to improve our services and make changes for the better.
I am always available to hear your good or bad feedback directly or via the MVP meetings so please come along and have your say.
Information and Support
Dudley borough libraries
Libraries In Dudley
Brierley Hill Babybank
They take referrals for families and services that are based within the DY1-10 and B63-5 area from NHS health professionals, family support services and community organisations to ensure that our essential items get to those who need them most.
Dudley Family hubs
Dudley’s family hub network includes five local family hubs, along with online resources and community services which support children and families across the borough. The local family hubs are located at Brierley Hill, Coseley, Dudley, Lye and Stourbridge.
Dudley Infant Feeding
The page is for information and is led by the Infant Feeding Team at Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.
Tough Enough To Care
They aim thier focus toward male dominated spaces, to promote positive conversations around mental health and to remove the toxic stigma surrounding mental health within these spaces.