LMNS ambition and targets
The Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services was published on 30 March 2023.
The plan sets out a series of actions for Trusts, ICBs and NHS England in order to improve the safety and quality of maternity and neonatal services with a focus on personalised care and equity and equality.
It combines a number of existing maternity and neonatal requirements including the original Better Births (2016) report, the Long Term Plan (2019), Ockenden (2020 and 2022), East Kent (2022), Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle v2, CSNT requirements, MBRRACE reports, BAPM7 neonatal ambitions and equity/race related guidance.
The report sets out the 12 priority actions for Trusts and systems for the next three years, across four themes:
- Listening to women and families with compassion
- Supporting the workforce
- Developing and sustaining a culture of safety
- Meeting and improving standards and structures.
Meet the team
Heather McNair
Director of Midwifery
email: Heather.McNair2@nhs.net
Heather joined the ICB as Director of Midwifery in June 2023, on secondment for a year from her substantive post of Chief Nurse at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHSFT.
She qualified as a Nurse, then midwife in Leeds in 1988 and was a Head of Midwifery at Calderdale and Huddersfield before becoming a Chief Nurse in 2011. Her focus will be on system wide quality and improvement. Working in collaboration with all stakeholders to advocate for safe high quality maternity care taking a partnership approach to drive the very best outcomes.
Becky Case
LMNS Programme Lead
email: b.case@nhs.net
Becky has worked in the NHS for over 20 years now - and before that worked in the oil and gas industry looking at data, efficiency and safety - so brought some of this learning with her. Her roles in healthcare have included managing medical and surgical specialties, community and public health teams, as well as commissioning new services across North and West Yorkshire.
She was delighted to join the LMNS team in 2019 and lead such important work in making services better and friendlier for our local families. Her particular ambition is to improve the technology that staff work with so that they can most effectively work in the community, and to ensure all our service offers are equitable and accessible to everyone, everywhere.
Aparna Manou
LMNS Clinical Lead, Neonatology
email: a.manou@nhs.net
Aparna is a Consultant Neonatologist and the Clinical Lead for Neonates at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She is also the Neonatal Clinical Lead for the Y&H MatNeoSIP.
With a particular interest in Quality Improvement, leadership, and mentoring junior doctors on clinical and non-clinical skills, she is passionate about implementing change to improve care.
She is with the LMNS for one session per week to provide valuable neonatal clinical input and her Quality Improvement knowledge and experience to the programme, and ensure that all colleagues are engaged as much as possible with LMNS activity.
Leila Fahel
LMNS Clinical Lead, Obstetrician
email: leila.fahel@nhs.net
Leila is a consultant obstetrician at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She is the maternal medicine lead and Obstetric and Gynaecology research lead in her Trust.
She is an experienced obstetrician and has held several leadership roles including Clinical Governance and Labour Ward lead. She was previously seconded as HNY LMNS maternal medicine lead.
She is working with the HNY LMNS leads to drive improvement in safety and culture ensuring the voice of pregnant people and their families are at the centre of any change. She is providing clinical obstetric oversight and advice for the strategic transformation priorities as per national drivers. One of her main priorities will be to advance the research agenda and participation in research within our LMNS as this has strongly been proven to improve patient safety and satisfaction.
Mais Ismail
Future Leaders Programme Fellow
email: mais.ismail2@nhs.net
Mais is a paediatric trainee in the East Yorkshire deanery. In addition to her interest in paediatric cardiology, she's also passionate about equity, inclusivity, leadership and teamwork.
As the LMNS 2024/25 Leadership Fellow, she'll be focusing on improving safety and equity for BAME women and their babies. Her aim is to empower these mothers to better engage with the services provided and to ensure that their unique needs are recognised and addressed in our healthcare settings.
Sallie Ward
LMNS Lead Midwife
email: sallie.ward1@nhs.net
Sallie leads the workstream on Choice, Personalisation and Continuity of Carer (CoC). A key target is working with Trusts to ensure that CoC is the default model of care for maternity services, and available to all, where safe staffing allows and building blocks are in place. This work is based on co-production with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership ensuring that we are designing a service for families with families.
She trained as a nurse and a midwife and has worked for many years at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in various roles including, Community Midwife, Sure Start Midwife and Community Midwifery Manager before joining the LMNS team in February 2019.
She is most proud of designing and implementing the 2017 Hull City of Culture project “ Born into a City of Culture” involving the footprints of over 5,000 babies within the year.
Ann-Marie Robinson
LMNS Safety and Quality Lead
email: ann-marie.robinson1@nhs.net
Ann-Marie is a very experienced midwife who has previously had a number of different roles across teams at NLaG including supporting the Continuity of Carer and Choice and Personalised Care workstreams, and as a PMA. She has also supported the LMNS as one of the ‘Ask A Midwife’ team.
In this new role she will be working closely with the HNY Trusts safety, quality and governance teams to ensure the LMNS supports and has oversight of the various workstreams required to meet the 3-year maternity and neonatal plan, the latest Saving Babies Lives and Maternity Incentive Scheme requirements and all the other workstreams we currently have.
She will be supporting the ongoing work in areas such as MEaCC (Maternal Enhanced and Critical Care), our LMNS Perinatal and Pre-term birth groups, providing input into the ICB quality groups, and working with the Y&H Maternity Clinical Network to develop guidance.
Katie Jones
MNVP Group Lead - LMNS
email: katie.jones109@nhs.net
Katie’s maternity journey led her to the MNVP and her own birth experiences have driven her to want to be an advocate for women and birthing people, encouraging personal choice and autonomy.
She is a Mum to two, you’ll often see her with her youngest at MNVP meetings and she’s looking forward to working with the LMNS and parents from the region.
Katie knows the Humber area well after moving to Hull in 2008 to study Law at the University and now lives in North East Lincolnshire.
Sufia Miah
Maternity and Neonatal Care Diversity Champion
email: sufia.miah@nhs.net
Sufia graduated in 2005 with a BA (Hons) Law and Business degree and went on to gain a BSc (Hons) Social Work degree in 2017.
She has always been involved with community work initially as a BAME worker, and with people experiencing mental health problems and dual diagnosis, and more recently at North Lincolnshire Council working with adults that are homeless.
As the LMNS/MVP Maternity and Neonatal Care Diversity Champion, she is hoping to help improve women and families experience with maternity and neonatal services, resulting in better maternity outcomes for all.
Matthew Wooffindin
LMNS Partner Project Lead
email: matthew.wooffindin@nhs.net
Matt is a Dad to three children, with a son born before Covid, and twins delivered during the pandemic, resulting in two very different birth journeys.
He is committed to collecting and understanding the individual stories of partners to ensure local maternity services are doing everything they can to support and involve them. He firmly believes that educating, including and caring for partners from the very start of the maternity journey will improve the wellbeing of the whole family at such an exciting and vulnerable time
Matt knows the whole region well, having lived in North East Lincolnshire his whole life, and is passionate about improving the lives of those who live there. He joins the LMNS after a five-year break working in grounds management, following a 9 year career in the health and social care sector.
Stephanie French
LMNS Framework Mapping Maternity Support Worker
email: stephanie.french9@nhs.net
Steph joined York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a Maternity Support Worker in 2021.
She is now based in Hull and is working with the LMNS on a scoping project to map all Maternity Support Workers in Humber and North Yorkshire against the latest Framework set out by NHS England.
Phoebe Baines
Birth Reflections Maternity Support Worker
email: phoebe.baines1@nhs.net
Phoebe has been working at in the maternity unit at York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as a support worker since 2020.
She joined the LMNS in October 2024 to support Birth Reflections services in all of our Trusts.
Laura Caldicott
LMNS Prevention Lead (Weight Management/Healthy Lifestyle)
email: laura.caldicott1@nhs.net
Laura became a midwife, working at Northern Lincolnshire & Goole Hospitals, in 2017.
Having gained qualifications in fitness instructing, pre/postnatal fitness instructing and personal training outside of work, she was ideally qualified for this seconded role within the LMNS. Her role involves scoping the current services offered to women and developing them further for individuals to access. Laura also works as the Perinatal Pelvic Health Specialist Midwife for the Humber Care Partnership, working alongside maternity and physiotherapy teams to provide specialised care.
Vicky White
LMNS Prevention Lead (Smoking in Pregnancy)
email: victoria.white46@nhs.net
Working as a midwife at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust since 2016, Vicky has labour ward and community experience, most recently as a member of a Continuity of Carer team in Scunthorpe.
Vicky commenced her LMNS secondment role in January 2022. With her many years of caring for and supporting women who smoke or who have recently stopped smoking during their pregnancy journey, she is very well placed to champion the smoking cessation in pregnancy agenda which aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan smokefree ambitions.
Emily Cook
LMNS 'Ask a Midwife' Midwife
email: emily.cook31@nhs.net
Emily qualified as a midwife in 2014 from the University of Hull. She has worked as a rotational midwife, and then from 2018 primarily in the community and Continuity of Care models at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
She is passionate about promoting informed choices to women and families, recognising barriers to some 'traditional' communication methods and tailoring care to suit individual needs.
She enjoys working within the LMNS Ask A Midwife service, alongside her work as a community midwife in Hull.
Claire Welford
LMNS 'Ask a Midwife' Midwife
email: claire.welford5@nhs.net
Claire began her midwifery journey in 2011 when she worked as a HCA in maternity at York Hospital. Through training at Bradford women and babies unit and working at YSTHFT she has provided care across all maternity services. She currently works in the community having established and worked in the Continuity of Carer team at York before it was paused.
She is really looking forward to working with the LMNS and the ‘Ask a midwife’ team to develop the service and enhance women’s experience of maternity services across Humber and North Yorkshire.
Joanne Lilley
LMNS 'Ask a Midwife' Midwife
email: joanne.lilley7@nhs.net
Joanne qualified as a Midwife in 2015 from the University of York, prior to this she was in the Royal Air Force for 13 years!
Upon qualifying as a Midwife, she initially worked at St James Hospital in Leeds before moving to Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust in 2017. She has previsouly worked in the community team at Scunthorpe and is now working from Goole Hospital.
Joanne is passionate about promoting choice for pregnant people and improving their pregnancy and birth experience.
Lily Wheldrake
LMNS 'Ask a Midwife' Midwife
email: lily.wheldrake@nhs.net
Lily began her career in midwifery in 2018, training at the University of Hull. She studied for 3 years at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital and upon qualifying chose to work for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.
She has worked on delivery suite and ward 26 and is currently a Community Midwife at Goole Hospital and for the LMNS Ask a Midwife service!
She is passionate about waterbirth, and promoting birthing people’s choice to allow them to have the pregnancy and birth that they desire. This links well with the goals of the Ask a Midwife service which is supportive and friendly.
Abbie Durrant-Milnes
LMNS 'Ask a Midwife' Midwife
email: abbie.durrant-milnes@nhs.net
Abbie qualified from Bradford University in 2016 and currently works at Harrogate District Foundation Trust (HDFT). Having worked in all areas of maternity care Abbie has a high level of knowledge to help support individuals through their pregnancy and beyond.
Abbie is currently studying for her lactation consultancy exam to help support and educate people on infant feeding throughout their pregnancy, birth and postnatal period.
She has a passion for parent education, waterbirth, complimentary therapies and infant feeding. She also loves to help support choice with place of birth including homebirths having had two homebirths herself.
Abbie currently works part time for the LMNS doing the Ask a Midwife service, a digital midwife and a clinical midwife on the ward and delivery suite at HDFT. She thinks the Ask a Midwife service is a great innovation and she looks forward to receiving your messages.
Laurie Palmer
LMNS Senior Partnership Officer
email: laurie-anne.palmer@nhs.net
Laurie has worked in the public sector for over 25 years, in a range of senior roles within Health/Economic Development/Regeneration/Social Inclusion/Community Planning/Policy and Planning and Corporate Support.
Before joining the LMNS team in August 2019, she worked as a peripatetic project manager at NHS England, supporting a range of initiatives including patient rehabilitation, primary care workforce & infrastructure, apprenticeships, line management training development and flu immunisation.
She is responsible for supporting the management and co-ordination of the LMNS programme, delivering the programme and project management function.
Heidi Forster
LMNS PA/Administration Support
email: heidi.forster2@nhs.net
After graduating, Heidi worked for North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire local authorities for five years before spending 18 years at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, offering administrative support at senior, Executive and Board level. Heidi joined the LMNS Team in December 2023. Heidi supports the Maternity and Neonatal Partnership (MNVP) Group Lead and Leads, administrates the Perinatal Pelvic Health Services Steering Group and assists Heather, Becky and other members of the team as needed.
