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Beccy flying the flag for reproductive health research

Beccy Daley

As Reproductive Health & Childbirth Research Champion for CRN North Thames, Beccy Daley enjoys supporting midwives in developing their research delivery skills and helping them to plug into a network which offers national expertise.

The Midwifery Research Champion role was the initial Champion role adopted by the NIHR, and now similar roles are in place for some other medical specialties.

Beccy, who does the role part-time alongside her duties as a Senior Clinical Research Midwife at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is responsible for promoting research in trusts across North Thames. She has been involved in numerous studies including the PHOENIX trial into late pre-term preeclampsia and REACH pregnancy circles, looking at an alternative way of providing antenatal care. In the past, Beccy co-ordinated a large multi-centre study evaluating a new blood test in pregnancy to screen for Down’s Syndrome, known as a non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT).

Beccy explained: “I’m helping people to feel supported as part of a community, even if they are on their own in their trust. They have access to a local and national network, one which has been invaluable to me, because I know that if I have a problem about a study, someone who is part of that group will often have come across the same problem before.”

Each Clinical Research Network either has or is supposed to have a Reproductive Health & Childbirth Research Champion in place; it is this network which is helping Beccy and other clinical research midwives across North Thames.

“Working within reproductive health and childbirth gives us an understanding of the bigger picture,” Beccy explained. “The whole field of midwifery is now very broad and requires an understanding not just of childbirth but gynaecology and reproductive medicine and how they are all connected.”

Beccy caught the research bug early – even in her days as a student midwife she says she knew she wanted to work in research. A Master in Research (MRes) at St George’s University followed degrees in Midwifery from the University of Northampton and Anatomy and Human Biology from King’s College London.

“I always knew I wanted to work in research from early on but being a research midwife and taking on the Champion role has given me a different set of skills which are helping to improve care for women and their families,” Beccy added. “It is exciting to see research I have been involved with change clinical practice. Everyone at some stage will be affected by care that our research informs.”

You can follow Beccy on Twitter (@ResMidwife) or follow the national Reproductive Health and Childbirth champion group: @rhcnrc