Birmingham and Solihull Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership

14/06/2026

Don't forget to join our MNVP Quarterly Meeting tomorrow, Monday 15th June from 10am! Please click the link to the eventbrite for more details.

Baby friendly, refreshments provided and a safe and friendly space 🌿

Professionals and other Organisations to join from 11am

Team BSOL MNVP ❤️

BSOL MNVP would like to welcome you to participate in our upcoming quarterly meeting, with a focus on BWH

13/06/2026

This week our MNVP West Lead was in the South introducing the Role of MNVP to the South Birmingham Muslim Community Mother & Baby club.

One service user shared a powerful experience of rapid birth and calling triage. English was not her first language, and she came from a culture where women are often raise to stay strong, be patient, and carry on despite pain and difficulty.

Her story was a reminder that labour does not look the same for every person. A woman may appear calm, be able to speak through contractions, and still be in established labour. Listening, believing, and understanding a woman's history can make all the difference. A history of rapid birth matters.

Women with previous rapid births want to feel heard, believed and reassured when they contact triage.

Sometimes the most important intervention is simply listening to what a woman knows about her own body. 🌿❤️

12/06/2026

Chynna our Bereavement Lead would like to provide you with a safe space to discuss your Maternity and Bereavement experience, to support on going works at Birmingham Women's Hospital!

The link is below to join this event, however if there is any problems, please do drop an email to [email protected] and we can send you the link!

Please do share this with anyone you feel maybe interested in participating ❤️🌿

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birmingham-womens-hospital-bereaved-parents-online-listening-session-tickets-1990852758192?aff=oddtdtcreator

12/06/2026

This week has been a very busy week for the BSOL MNVP team, with lots of community engagements and walking the wards of our local Maternity Trusts!

On Monday we hosted our MNVP Quarterly Meeting with a focus on Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust Maternity Services.
We shared some powerful service user stories, and as always the UHB team were incredibly passionate about putting action plans in place following on from you, the service users voice.

On Monday 15th June we have our quarterly meeting with a focus on Birmingham Women's Hospital. Please follow the link below to participate, we'd love to have you join.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bsol-mnvp-quarterly-meeting-bwh-focus-tickets-1988544232329?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/06/2026

We'd love to introduce to you our wonderful Neonatal Lead for South Birmingham, Lisa!

'Hi there, I’m Lisa Jones-Burke and I am the MNVP Neonatal Lead at Birmingham Women’s Hospital.

I began my role at the start of 2026 after giving birth to my son Reece at 24 weeks back in 2021. He weighed just 525 grams and was given just 20% chance of survival at that time. We had a long 116 day journey in the Neonatal unit full of many highs and many lows. It can be a very lonely journey as you feel like no one understands. For my journey it was particularly lonely as it was under the Covid rules where not one single family member even my older son Dylan was allowed to visit so I spent the whole time by myself sat by my babies incubator.
I wish I had someone there back then to listen to my voice and at what I was struggling with to try and advocate for my needs so I am here to be that for you and your families.

I’m now so passionate about supporting other families through their journeys in the NICU and afterwards.

Every baby’s journey is different but families are united in a sense that they share many fears, anxieties and challenges along the road. The neonatal journey can be very traumatic and can have lasting affects on families for years to come even after leaving. Many of the traumas, feelings of guilt that your own body some how failed your baby, the memories, the triggering beeping sounds stay with you.

I want to walk alongside families, listen to their stories and listen to families voices for things that they felt we could have done that would have better supported them and perhaps made their journeys that little bit easier.

I also want to hear of the things that were done really well and made you feel heard, cared for and supported so that I can feed that back to the unit to ensure we continue those practises and praise the wonderful doctors and nurses for all their hard work.

In my role I want to make sure every neonatal families voice is heard to help shape the future of the neonatal unit at Birmingham Women’s hospital.
I’d love to hear from you to listen to your story and make your voice count 🫶🏻

22/05/2026

📢Please join us for our next Quarterly Meeting with a focus on Birmingham Women's Hospital

📅Monday 15th June 2026
⌚10.00am - 12.30pm
📍Sense Touch Base Pears Selly Oak B29 6NA

Have you used Maternity services in South Birmingham? Are you a Neonatal or Bereaved Parent/Family?
Do you want to be a part of shaping future care for Parents and Families?
Do you want to share your experience, or listen to updates on your local Maternity Services?

If so, please join our friendly, safe group with refreshments provided and of course this is a baby friendly event!

We have dedicated Service User time from 10am-11am, with professionals then joining, you are welcome to stay to listen and participate in any updates from your local Trust.

🙋‍♀️This is your meeting!

Please join through the event brite link below:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bsol-mnvp-quarterly-meeting-bwh-focus-tickets-1988544232329?aff=oddtdtcreator

You can email if you can't access the link: [email protected]

Or just show up!

19/05/2026

Black baby loss awareness week came to an end of Sunday 17th May and our Bereavement Lead Helen attended the Walk and Talk event organised by 🌿

The event took place around Lightwoods park and Warley Woods, and the day gave bereaved families and their support networks, opportunity to come together to remember those babies lost and to raise awareness of the impact of baby loss on our local community.

A massive congratulations to the in holding space and giving families the opportunity to gather, talk and share their experiences, an incredible event and turn out that we were honoured to attend 🤝

15/05/2026

BSOL MNVP are hiring!

Do you have lived Maternity experience within South Birmingham? Do you want to be a part of a team that is passionate about improving Maternity, Neonatal and Bereavement services?
Do you want to work flexibly, while still making a difference?

We have one position available

- South Lead for 30 hours per month this will include being on site regularly at Birmingham Women's Hospital.
- £20.00 per hour on a self employed basis

For more information, please request an expression of interest and job description by emailing our Project Coordinator [email protected]

Please see the link below to the advert via Gateway:
https://gatewayfs.org/south-lead-bsol/

14/05/2026

💐This week our MNVP West Lead got to speak to several first time Mums from diverse cultural backgrounds about their experiences registering their pregnancy.

Many first time Mums expressed they contacted their GP surgery when they found out they were pregnant, and the referral/registering process felt simple.

But after that, many were left waiting with little communication from Maternity services about their first community midwife appointment.

Some key feedback included:

- Not knowing what to expect after referral other than to wait
- No clear updates
- Uncertainty about appointment times
- Having to search for pregnancy advice themselves
- Some women booking private scans for reassurance
- Women often told that routine maternity care would begin after 12 weeks

Many first time Mums said clear, up to date, NHS backed, early pregnancy information and updates could be given straight after initial referral. This would leave them to feel supported and informed from the start.

Do you want to feedback around the booking system you experienced within Birmingham and Solihull?
If so we'd love to hear from you, you can drop us a line on [email protected] or inbox us!

Team BSOL MNVP

11/05/2026

🌿This week marks the start of Black Baby Loss Awareness 🌿

This week is all about amplifying the voices of black bereaved families, highlighting the inequalities in maternity care and raises awareness of the baby loss support available in the black community.

You can get involved by following or sharing and reposting the content that is being posted throughout the week using

As always, BSOL MNVP are hear to listen. Gathering black families voices and experiences is vital in ensuring we can be a part of shaping improvements around inequalities for black families in the future.

Our inboxes are always open, and we're here to come to you.

Team BSOL MNVP