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Leadership, four decades of midwifery and new RCM Fellowships on agenda at RCM Education Conference and Annual Lecture

By RCM on 12 June 2018 RCM Fellowship RCM Education Conference Leadership Safety Zepherina Veitch Memorial Lecture

The UK’s major midwifery education conference takes place today as the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) holds its annual Education Conference.

Louise Silverton the RCM’s outgoing Director for Midwifery will also deliver the annual RCM Zepherina Veitch Lecture tomorrow, after the education conference.

At the same event the RCM will also be awarding RCM Fellowships to seven midwives.

Developing leadership is a key focus of the conference, and speakers will discuss and show how midwifery education can support this.

Among the speakers at the conference are Dr Katerina Kolyva, Director at the Council of Deans of Health, Jacqui Williams, Senior Midwifery Advisor, at the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Professor Jayne Marshall, Foundation Professor at the University of Leicester. Also speaking is Professor John Clark, a Director at Health Education England.

In her Zepherina Veitch Lecture the RCM’s Louise Silverton will cover the changes in midwifery and maternity services she has seen in over four decades of work as a midwife.

She will cover how things have, usually,  slowly changed in how midwifery care is delivered. She will also reflect on some of the more seismic changes. In the year celebrating women’s suffrage Louise will also examine changes in women’s position in society and how childbearing mothers are viewed.

Reflecting on the sometimes cyclical nature of midwifery care she will give some examples where care is returning to where it was years ago. Her lecture will also home in on practice change, where what was done many years ago looks out of date to today’s eyes. She will also pose the question, will ‘care that we provide today will look similarly out of date in another 40, 30 or even 20 years?'

Seven midwives will also be honoured with RCM Fellowships at the event. Those receiving the Fellowships are:

  • Professor Grace Edwards, Professor of Midwifery at the Aga Khan University Uganda
  • Professor Jayne Marshall, Foundation Professor of Midwifery at the University of Leicester
  • Annette Briley, Consultant Midwife/ Clinical Trials Manager at King’s College London
  • Laura Abbot, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at the University of Hertfordshire
  • Denise Tiran, Midwifery Consultant & Educational Director at Expectancy
  • Dr Susan Way, Associate Director Employer Engagement (Health)/Deputy Head of Research, Department of Health Science and Public Health  at Bournemouth University
  • Marion Wilyman, Community Midwifery Manager at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

The RCM Education Conference is at Prospero House, London, SE1 1GA.

Visit our RCM Fellowships page for more information.

To contact the RCM Media Office call 020 7312 3456, or email [email protected].

Note to editors

The RCM is the only trade union and professional association dedicated to serving midwifery and the whole midwifery team. We provide workplace advice and support, professional and clinical guidance and information, and learning opportunities with our broad range of events, conferences and online resources. For more information visit the RCM website at https://www.rcm.org.uk/.

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