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.
SafeHands - Save Lives
MIDIRS supports International Day of the Midwife.
In support of this year’s International Day of the Midwife (IDM), MIDIRS has pledged to donate 20% of the cost of every personal subscription it receives between 4th-5th May 2012, towards helping to reduce maternal morbidity rates in developing countries.
The recipient of the donation will be international charity, SafeHands for Mothers, who share MIDIRS mission of assisting in the improvement of maternity care worldwide.
The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust:
The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust 2012 annual awards
Dr Helen Cheyne, chair of the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust, has announced on behalf of the trustees, the names of those midwives and student midwives who will receive awards from the charity in 2012.
Following assessment of the applications by the trustees, Dr Cheyne said: ‘We have received requests to fund a large number of diverse and interesting projects, all of high quality, and it has been a tough task to select what we feel are the best.
“Many award winners will be travelling the globe and bringing back knowledge and experiences to enhance the care they give in the UK. Others are finding ingenious ways to advance their practice through study and learning new skills. We know they will all do their best to ensure that women and babies benefit from the activities we are assisting.
“We thank everybody who has shown interest in this charity’s work and wish them all the best in their endeavours”.
For details of the 2012 award winners, including recipients of the Student Award (supported by MIDIRS), please see:http://www.iolanthe.org/Latest_news.html