This week our blog is from Michala Little, Head of Midwifery and Women’s Services at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust

The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity and Neonatal System (WY&H LMNS) has recently launched a series of films and new website to promote maternity careers

Hello, I’m Michala Little, Head of Midwifery and Women’s Services at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, and I’m keen to share the news of a system wide recruitment campaign we’ve developed across the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity and Neonatal System (WY&H LMNS) to promote the breadth of maternity roles available and information on how to choose a career in maternity care.

The films and a new website are part of our plans to tackle the issue of an ageing workforce within maternity services. The LMNS identified that in the coming years, trusts in the region could see an increase in highly skilled and experienced midwives retiring, with 40 being the average age of a midwife and 8% of the workforce now aged over 55.

The LMNS also hopes the films will bring more diversity to the maternity workforce in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, to reflect the communities they work with more accurately.

I was delighted to be asked to take part in the films and be able to fly the flag for working as an LMNS. Working as a partnership alongside commissioners, local authorities, maternity and neonatal voices partnerships, and as a collective of six local trusts, has been a game changer. By sharing good practice and learning, it has allowed us to better understand and transform maternity services so we can move further faster.

As a maternity and neonatal system we aim to attract and retain a highly effective workforce that’s well led, innovative and continuously learns. We hope through the films people can see the positive culture, career progression opportunities and the many ways a career in midwifery can help them to develop professionally and personally. It’s a great career choice.

The new films celebrate the diversity of the work and the supportive nature of the profession where strong relationships form between teams, colleagues and the people and families they support.

We hope to inspire the next generation of midwives, whether you’re thinking of starting your first career, or looking for a career change. We also want to promote the incredible region that is West Yorkshire and Harrogate, so those who have recently qualified but are living outside the area might consider relocating.

We want to make the campaign highly visible and inspire people from across Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield District and beyond to consider a career in maternity services. We would therefore value the support of all our allies working across West Yorkshire and Harrogate and in the voluntary and community sector to share the link to the website and the films - midwiferycareerswyh.co.uk.

Thank you for reading,
Michala