King’s midwife makes RCM awards shortlist

23 August 2024 - Clare Clifford-Turner is in the running for a national award recognising digital innovation

A Community Midwife at King’s College Hospital has been shortlisted for a prestigious Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Annual Midwifery Award. Clare Clifford-Turner is in the running to win the award for outstanding contribution to midwifery services: digital, in recognition of her work to use technology to ensure women, expectant parents and their families have the best possible maternity experience.

Clare has taken the lead on a number of projects to help women and birthing people make informed choices about their care, including a maternity website and a dedicated Instagram account with accessible, up to date information about pregnancy, labour and caring for a newborn baby. Clare has also developed and rolled out online parent education workshops, and as a result the Trust now runs more than 16 different classes, including groups for LGBTQ+ parents, and those whose first language is not English.

Clare Clifford-Turner said: “Digital tools can help everyone working in maternity services do more to be there for anyone who needs us. It’s made a huge difference to the way we provide consistent and trustworthy information to anyone who needs our advice, information and support. Every person’s experience of pregnancy, labour, childbirth and early days with baby is unique to them, and tailoring advice and building that feeling of community among the parents and families we see every day is so important for new parents in gaining confidence. Everyone at Team King’s is here to make sure our patients can make the right choice for them about their care, and to have this work recognised is a huge honour.”

Tracey Carter, Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Midwifery at King’s College Hospital, added: “We are always looking for different ways to give women and birthing people the best possible care, and embracing digital channels is a vital part of this. We’re all extremely proud of Clare and her hard work to transform the way we use digital innovation to help support, inform and empower mothers and parents-to-be.”