About us Gloucestershire Maternity Voices Partnership is made up of volunteers who represent the voice of women and families from all communities and cultures to inform improvements in local maternity care. Our members are made up of: Local people who have recently had a baby or are currently expecting a baby Healthcare professionals, including midwives, health visitors, obstetricians and neonatal staff who work at our maternity units in Gloucestershire and provide care in the community. Representatives from Public Health and NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Representatives from voluntary groups who support pregnant women and new parents The Partnership is an independent organisation, although we work closely with health professionals from across the Local Maternity System, including the NHS Trusts, GPs and Local Voluntary Groups. We sit on the Local Maternity System Board, in order to help shape services around the needs of women and partners in our community. We are funded by NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, which enables us to have access to resources to help us reach more mums and have a positive impact on local maternity services. Our Priorities During the last year we have been listening to your feedback and finding out what matters to you. Using what you’ve told us, we have agreed what things we want to focus on as our priorities in 2020. Take a look at the graphic below, and if you want to find out any more about anything on here, drop us an email via glccg.glosmvp@nhs.net Meet the team Find out more about the MVP team by clicking on their names below. Emma (Our Chair) Emma has two children, Sophia and Ethan. She grew up in Cheltenham, met her husband in London and then moved back to Cheltenham to get married and start a family. She has first hand experience of Gloucestershire Maternity Services, having given birth to her children in the Aveta Birth Centre in Cheltenham and Gloucester Birth Unit respectively. Emma spent most of her career before maternity leave working for an accountancy firm, where she was predominantly involved in the people side of the business, as well as qualifying as a Chartered Certified Accountant. She also completed a brief stint in recruitment and now runs two home businesses in the beauty industry, alongside being a stay at home mum. Dana Dana has two daughters and has worked for over 10 years as a qualified accountant for the NHS. Dana joined the MVP when she saw an event advertised which mentioned ‘helping to improve services’. It was free, in a child friendly environment and had cake, which was a bonus! Dana says that she found it very overwhelming when she first went to the event and she was very emotional trying to join in, but she is glad that she went and stayed as she’s met a great bunch of people and she would encourage anyone else who feels nervous to give it a go. Dana says that she loves taking the girls to volunteer events promoting the work of the MVP and getting involved with projects where she can. Mandy Mandy is mum to a little boy, wife to Mike and a Nurse working in Cheltenham. She found out about MVP at an event where parents were invited to come along and give feedback early in 2019. She decided to become more involved as she felt it was important to give feedback as well as provide a voice for other mums and dads. Overall, Mandy says that her maternity experience was a positive one, but she had a few issues with choices for labour which she felt could have been better explained. She says it has been a great experience getting involved with the MVP helping to improve maternity services within Gloucestershire and she would encourage others to do the same. Katherine Katherine works in the Engagement team at NHS Gloucestershire CCG. She has three children; James, Lydia and Charlotte, all of whom were born in Gloucester. She is passionate about ensuring people that have recently used, are currently using or planning to use maternity services have a voice to share their experiences and for that to inform any changes to services. Katherine supports the MVP with all things engagement, including providing advice, building links with communities, managing the volunteer database and attending events to promote the work of the MVP. She also supports the development and maintenance of the MVP website. Beth Beth is Service Improvement Manager in the Children’s Mental Health & Maternity Team at NHS Gloucestershire CCG and MVP is one of the many projects for which she is lead. She doesn’t have children yet, but says that involvement with the MVP has given her secret insight into the ups and downs of parenthood. Beth loves being part of the MVP and is committed to ensuring the NHS works with women and their families and uses their feedback to deliver the best possible care. Sophie Sophie (almost always known as ‘Soph’) is Communications Officer at NHS Gloucestershire CCG. She supports the MVP with social media, promotion of the partnership and coordinated development of the MVP website. She works in partnership with the engagement team to ensure that the messages from the MVP are accessible. Involved from the very beginning, Soph is excited to see the partnership continue to grow and achieve great things for women and maternity services locally. Rachel Rachel’s bio will follow soon! Hannah Hannah’s bio will follow soon!