About us

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 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 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 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 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 (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’s bio will follow soon!

Hannah’s bio will follow soon!