Claire is an experienced and passionate midwifery leader and safeguarding practitioner. She is the former Head of Midwifery at Airedale Hospital in West Yorkshire, which is where the MLU was built. Claire is proud to have supported many midwifery teams to achieve their goals and receive national recognition with a variety of awards including All Party Parliamentary Awards of Excellence and RCM Team of the Year.
'On a cold and frosty morning in early December 2012, as the Head of Midwifery in one of the smallest Maternity Services in England, I received an email that would change the course of birthing choices for women in West Yorkshire.
As a wave of excitement washed over me, and with a turnaround deadline of 10 days ahead, I sought approval from the appropriate members of the Trust Board to submit a bid to the DHSC for monies to build an along-side midwifery led birthing centre and bespoke bereavement suite. Both of these facilities were drastically needed, in order to improve the experiences of birthing mothers in the area, whether the circumstances around that birth be happy or sad.
The days ahead proved fraught, as I entered a world I had not experienced before – working with architects and builders, whilst seeking the views of the service users and staff to ensure that this was truly a gift for all who would use it or work in it. Negotiating, prioritising, selling the vision, telling the story and then finally clicking the submit button filled me with a mix of emotions including hope, exhilaration and enthusiasm – closely followed by anxiety.
Six long weeks of anticipation and expectancy passed, every day spent waiting for the response. And then it came. My bid was approved, and we were awarded the funding required to bring my vision to life (but with one of the most difficult caveats I have ever received, “the work must be completed by the end of March 2013!”).
With less than 8 weeks to deliver a project that would be life changing for so many women and families, the team sprang into action; nerves were tense, and emotions ran high, but together as a unified team with a clear vision, the job was completed in the timeframe required.
In July 2013, on the hottest day of the year, and witnessed by many dignitaries from the locality, prestigious members of the profession, and most importantly, the first mothers to birth their babies in this new facility, came together to celebrate what had only been a dream just six months earlier.
I am unable to put into words how proud I am of this work, the team I led and the legacy we built together, for the local women, babies, and their families to use for a generation to come.'