Share your experience of using maternity services in Rochdale & Oldham
If you are pregnant or have had a baby in the last 3 years in Rochdale or Oldham we want to hear about your experience and if things could have been improved.
Ruth - Engagement Facilitator
Hello,
I’m Ruth, and I’m the Engagement Facilitator for ROMVP. I worked as a secondary school teacher for twelve years before changing careers and starting my own hypnobirthing business, Pea in the Pod Hypnobirthing. I run this alongside working with the ROMVP and being a mum to my two daughters, Penelope & Daphne.
I feel passionately that birth can, and should be, a positive experience for women and birthing people. I became interested in birth when I was pregnant with my second baby, Daphne (why I wasn’t interested when pregnant with my first, I don’t know!) I read so many birth books, and listened to so many podcasts, that I think it’s fair to say I became a full on birth geek! After having a really positive birth experience, I still found myself reaching for birth books and reading more and more about it. That’s when I knew that this wasn’t just something I wanted to achieve for me, but that I wanted to help others to have a positive birth, too.
I got involved with ROMVP during my second maternity leave and really enjoyed being a volunteer advocate, talking to mums and parents about their experiences and making sure this feedback was heard. I was also really impressed by how seriously the feedback is taken and I found it really rewarding seeing that changes were actually happening as a result of people sharing their experiences.
My role as Engagement Facilitator is to create as many opportunities as possible for people to engage with us and tell us their stories. I get out and about as much as I can, visiting baby groups, clinics, libraries… anywhere I might find pregnant people or new parents! I also use social media to try and reach as many people as we can. As part of my role, I also co-ordinate our amazing team of volunteer advocates.
In my spare time I love travelling, reading and Pilates. Though in recent years I’ve been getting my exercise in by constantly picking up toys and frantically searching for things that my toddler has hidden!
Leona Barlow - Rochdale & Oldham Maternity Voices Chair
As Rochdale and Oldham MVP Chair I will be the point of contact for service users to provide feedback and will chair regular MVP meetings. I work closely with maternity services, Clinical Commissioning Groups and other partners to ensure the voices of Rochdale and Oldham’s service users are heard.
I am a local mother of 3, qualified by personal experience and have accessed a range of local maternity services. My professional background is in Finance and I have vast experience of representing stakeholders in front of the Board of Directors and multi-disciplinary panels.
I am extremely passionate that every birthing person should feel empowered, informed, and supported to enable them to enjoy what should be one of the most magical journeys into parenthood. My aim is to help improve maternity care so that more people are able to look back upon their pregnancy journey with great pride and fondness at one of the most monumental events in a persons life.
In my spare time I like to…. Oh hang on a minute what is spare time when you have 3 children!?
I enjoy warm cups of coffee, dancing (mainly whilst doing the housework) and learning new things. One thing I would love to be able to do is speak fluent Spanish.
What is an MVP
A Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is an independent group of people working together to improve local services. An MVP is made up of service users, service user representatives and professionals with the purpose of ensuring the voice of women, birthing people, partners and families are heard, communicated and responded to.
The MVP doesn't act on complaints or individual cases but gather feedback to identify what is working well and where improvements are needed.
ROMVP Purpose and Vision
Purpose
To champion the voices of women, birthing people and their families in the development of maternity services in Rochdale and Oldham.
Vision
Improving experiences of maternity for women, birthing people and their families, through multi-disciplinary collaboration and co-production that brings service users’ voices to the centre of planning and strategy
Workplan 2023-2024
Information & Advice for Mental Health Support for New Parents
Your mental health is important, both for your wellbeing and your child’s. It’s important that you feel supported throughout your journey of becoming a parent and have a safe space to talk about how you are feeling.
Find out where you can go to get the support you and your family need.
ROMVP Reports
Rochdale & Oldham Maternity Voices Partnership Reports
The 15 Steps is a method looking at maternity services from the perspective of those who use them. It explores first impressions of care, surroundings, and the overall experience across the maternity journey. Developed by NHS England in conjunction with National Maternity Voices, the 15 Steps for Maternity toolkit has been designed especially for use by Maternity Voices Partnerships (MVPs) using an observational approach to understand the experience of those accessing local maternity care.15 Steps for Maternity Services across Oldham & Rochdale
The overall aim of Baby Bubbles is to support the good mental health of every parent, carer and infant in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale from 0-2 years old. As part of a funded Greater Manchester Mental Health programme, Baby Bubbles is the collaboration of a range of Voluntary Sector organisations who work with families within the borough, committed to work together to strengthen perinatal support within Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale and Pennines.
In early 2022 Cartwheel Arts was commissioned by Action Together Rochdale to consult women experiencing racial inequality about their experience of perinatal and maternity services. This report contains highlights from the consultation interviews, as well as the full transcripts (appendix 1) along with the key learning from the sessions. We would like to thank Healthwatch Rochdale supported with this project.
This report has been written to give an introduction and overview of what Rochdale and Oldham Maternity Voices Partnership do, how they do it and to also present findings, provide updates on work undertaken so far and to share the view and work plan for the future covering 2021 to 2023.
Rochdale & Oldham Maternity Voices Partnership Meetings
The Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is a forum for maternity service users, providers and commissioners of maternity services to come together to design services that meet the needs of local women, parents and families in the Rochdale and Oldham area.
We hold meetings on a monthly basis via Zoom in the evening. We welcome all Rochdale & Oldham residents who are passionate about maternity services to come and join us.
Rochdale & Oldham Maternity Voices Partnership Meeting Minutes & Agenda
We produce an agenda and minutes for each ROMVP meeting.
The agenda and minutes from previous meetings are available to read.