Mother brings passion to birth post at NHS

Claire Mathews has been appointed head of midwifery, gynaecology and sexual health at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Trust, working across the trust’s three hospitals in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole.

Ms Mathews had wanted to be a midwife since she was a child, but because midwives had then to train to be a nurse first she followed a different career before finally realising her dream after the birth of her son.

She said: “I knew I didn’t want to be a nurse so I trained to be a beauty therapist which was my second choice at the time although this was encouraged and supported by my parents.

“So I opened my own beauty salon and ran it for several years. Then when I fell pregnant with my son I decided once and for all I wanted to be a midwife, I put my shop on the market, applied to university and enrolled as a student midwife.

“Everything just slotted in to place so I started my course with a very young baby.”

Ms Mathews has worked in all areas of midwifery including community, ante and postnatal wards, antenatal clinics and labour wards, as well as a safe-guarding specialist midwife.

She is also a qualified community specialist public health nurse.

She is now seeking full accreditation from UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Scheme to promote breastfeeding, and wants to increase the “normal” birthrate at the trust.

She said; “I am very pro-normality and women’s choice.

“I believe promoting normal child birth is key to positive patient experiences and that women should be routinely offered choice’s about their care, including having their babies at home if that is what they would like.

“I want to make sure we provide services that women want to use ensuring they leave us after having had a positive, memorable experience.”