Case study: East of England midwife champions reproductive health research
“It was curiosity that first led me to practice research, but it's the satisfaction of answering those important questions and improving our practice for the women and the babies that we care for that has kept me in research.”
Friday 5 May marks International Day of the Midwife, an awareness day that celebrates the efforts of midwives from all over the world and recognises their work and contribution to maternal and newborn health.
On this day we are shining a light on Coralie Glenn-Sansum, a Clinical Community Midwife at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust and Research Midwife Champion for CRN East of England.
Coralie, who has been a midwife for over 20 years at Peterborough City Hospital, moved into research five years ago, a change she describes as a “really positive thing” as she was able to embed reproductive research into her NHS trust.
“I was motivated to go into research because I wanted to understand more about how we answer questions and how research influences our practice and why we do the things that we do.
“I also like how research can challenge historical practice; there are an awful lot of things in healthcare that we do just because that's the way that we've always done them, so it’s hugely satisfying when a study comes along that challenges that, and helps us to improve our maternity practice.”
For her role as Research Midwife Champion for the CRN East of England, Coralie helps to support the delivery of reproductive health research by working closely with the specialty lead, Katarzyna Gajewska-Knapik.
Together they support midwives at partner organisations to deliver research by offering peer support, helping to resolve study challenges, and sharing good practice.
Coralie is also part of a national forum of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) research champions, who work together on strategies to ultimately improve the way that reproductive health research is delivered across England.
On her vision for the future of maternity research, Coralie explains the challenges currently facing this area of research:
“Maternity services across the UK are hugely stretched by low staffing levels and that has an impact on the number of research midwives, but also the way that we can deliver research. However, it would be amazing to have more midwives delivering research and to have research embedded in maternity care nationally.”
Naming one of her greatest research achievements in her research career so far, Coralie points to her successful application for the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Small Grants Scheme in 2019, which she used to explore inequalities in accessing reproductive health research.
Using the results from this, she has been working with CRN East of England to develop a training toolkit to look at how research delivery staff can make a positive change that is more inclusive.
Ultimately, Coralie is keen to see more midwives start a rewarding path in research to improve reproductive care nationally. She said:
“It was curiosity that first led me to practice research, but it's the satisfaction of answering those important questions and improving our practice for the women and the babies that we care for that has kept me in research.”
If you would like to find out how the NIHR can help you add research to your career visit www.nihr.ac.uk/yourpath.
On Wednesday 5 July, the NHS will celebrate its 75th birthday. To mark 75 years of our National Health Service, the NIHR is joining the national celebrations throughout 2023. Visit www.nihr.ac.uk/explore-nihr/campaigns/nhs-75 for more information.