Northamptonshire Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership

25/06/2026

This Father's Day, you are invited to take part in some research about how fathers are affected by a difficult birth. The following is from Jessica Leung from the University of Bath:

I am inviting fathers, mothers, and midwives/health visitors to take part in a short, anonymous online survey (approximately 10–15 minutes).

A difficult birth experience can affect both parents, however support for fathers is often limited. By sharing your experiences and perspectives, you can help improve understanding of fathers' support needs and inform future support and services.

🎁 As a thank you for taking part, you will have the chance to win one of six £20 gift vouchers (two per participant group).

Please see the attached posters for more information. For full study details (including eligibility criteria), or to take part, please scan the QR code or visit: https://uniofbath.questionpro.eu/FathersSupportNeedsStudy.

Any questions, please get in touch at [email protected]!

25/06/2026

It's Armed Forces Week!

Do we have any service men/women/people who would like to co design and produce information and services specifically for those who use maternity services or have had a baby need care on the neonatal unit in Northamptonshire?

You may have received some Antenatal care, Labour and Birth care, Beareament Care or Postnatal Care...

The Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership is a charity service advocating for families who will or have received care at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust or Kettering General Hospital

We are an independent service from the NHS and our role is to support co-design, co-production, service user voices in complaints, gather feedback about both Trust's and be a critical friend to the senior leadership team within the NHS.

If you are aware of local charities, organisations or offers for armed forces families we would love to hear about them!

The Trust's are reviewing their care and support for mothers and fathers, birth partners and family who have connections with or have served in the armed forces.

However, they can't do this without YOU!

Naval Families Federation
Cobseo - the Confederation of Service Charities

24/06/2026

Today, at 11:45am, the findings of Donna Ockenden’s review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust are being published.

This is a significant and emotional moment for many families who have spent years seeking answers, accountability, and change. We pay tribute to the parents and families whose courage, determination, and persistence have brought these issues to light. We also recognise the staff who spoke up about concerns in the interests of patient safety.

Northants MNVP would like to thank Donna Ockenden and her team for their thorough and compassionate work throughout this review.

As we reflect on the report’s findings, our focus must remain on listening to families, learning from their experiences, and working together with maternity services to ensure that every woman, baby, and family receives safe, respectful, and compassionate maternity care.

Our thoughts are with all those affected today.

Our email is [email protected] if you would like to get in touch.

23/06/2026

Your experience matters.

We listen to all experiences.

From the moment you found out you were expecting to the care you received at home. We want to hear how you felt, how support helped or didn't help you, whether you were listened to and what you need maternity and neonatal services to know...

💜 Antenatal (Pregnancy)

❤️ Labour & Birth

🤍 Bereavement ( Pregnancy and Baby Loss)

🩵 Postnatal

💛 Neonatal Unit

🧡 Community Outreach

What were your appointments like?

Did staff take you seriously?

Do you want to shout out to someone who made your experience more than okay?

Sharing your experience isn't just about us hearing it. We will ensure your voice gets heard by those who need to know what your experience was like. You may feel like you need extra support now and that is something we can help with too.

Our MNVP Feedback form can be used by anyone who has exprienced maternity or neonatal care in the NHS at Kettering General Hospital or Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust

https://form.jotform.com/team/232153767171052/northamptonshire-mnvp-feedback-form

22/06/2026

As today draws to a close, the night sets in, many Dads up and down the UK will be affected by the care their partners, themselves or their babies received during their maternity/neonatal care.

We are really keen to ensure Fathers and partners are an integral part of Northants MNVP.

Today we see you. Tomorrow we are here to listen to your voice, and each day after that.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14fc7LJjMZ3/

Today is International Fathers' Mental Health Day, and we want to take a moment to reach out to neonatal dads.

When your baby is in neonatal care, it can sometimes feel like you have to hold everything together for everyone else. You don’t have to carry it all on your own, we’re here whenever you need support.

DM us or email [email protected]. 💙

📸 Suki Bains

22/06/2026

We will always support your voices being heard across not only the NHS but partner organisations and services too!

💜

📢 Parents, carers and parents-to-be of Kettering!

We are inviting people expecting a baby and those with children up to 19, or up to 25 with SEND, including carers, to get involved in shaping the Best Start Family Hub offer! Sign up and have your voice heard!

Parent Power will give parents & carers the opportunity to share their views and experiences.

📨 Drop us an email us at [email protected] and we will send you a link to join. We look forward to welcoming you!

21/06/2026

Here is an invitation to all Dads this Father's Day...

📢 Share your experiences with the MNVP

⭐️ Help shape maternity and neonatal services

👨‍👧 Become a Dad Champion

🩵 Volunteer to listen to other dads who want to share their experiences.

If you would like to share your story, join as a member or volunteer your time, drop us an email!

Tell us a little about you. We will explain what each part of the MNVP does and what happens once you complete one of the following:

● Feedback form
● Members registration form
● Volunteer application form

[email protected]

15/06/2026

⭐️Help shape a new resource for families in Northamptonshire!⭐️

Our charity host is working on providing a new website to support families across Northamptonshire and we want to make sure it includes the information you want, when you need it!

Whether you are:

💭 Thinking about having a baby
🤰 Pregnant / Expecting a baby
👶 Preparing for labour/birth
🤱 Caring for/feeding a baby aged 0-1 years
👪 Navigating life with a toddler aged 1-2 years
.. we would love to hear from you!

What would you like to see on a website?

What information do you struggle to find?

Any thoughts around colours we could use?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Once we have some ideas, we can look at holding online focus groups to help design the site and add the information you need!



We are keen to hear from families whose first language is not English too!

08/06/2026

💜Infant Mental Health Awareness Week 💜

This week, we are shining a light on the importance of infant mental health and why every baby’s voice matters.

From pregnancy onwards, babies experience and respond to the world around them. Their early relationships, environments and experiences help shape their emotional wellbeing, development and future health. Although babies cannot tell us how they feel with words, they communicate through their behaviours, expressions and interactions every day.

Within the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP), we believe that listening to the experiences of families means listening for the voice of the baby too.

When parents share their experiences of maternity and neonatal services, they help us understand what supports bonding, attachment and responsive care, and what may create barriers during pregnancy and those critical first days, weeks and months of life.

Whether it’s ensuring parents feel informed and involved in decisions, supporting skin-to-skin contact, protecting parent-baby relationships during neonatal care, or creating compassionate services that recognise the emotional needs of the whole family, infant mental health should be everyone’s business.

Every conversation about maternity and neonatal care should include consideration of the baby’s experience, because today’s babies are tomorrow’s children, young people and adults.

This Infant Mental Health Awareness Week, we encourage everyone working across maternity and neonatal services to ask:

💜What is this experience like for the baby?

💜How are we supporting early relationships?

💜How are we ensuring the baby’s voice is represented when decisions are made?

We would love to hear from families and listen to your experiences so we can help create services that nurture not only physical health, but emotional wellbeing from the very beginning.

Tell us how your care went and help us to shape maternity and neonatal services across the county.

https://share.google/4t3Yykv6GI02XtgiN

03/06/2026

🌟 Sharing some positivity this Wednesday!

We're delighted to see Kettering General Hospital (KGH) taking proactive steps to strengthen fire safety measures across its maternity services, helping to ensure that families, babies, and staff are protected from fire-related risks.

KGH is working in collaboration with the local Fire and Rescue Service and is investing significantly in fire safety improvements – an approach that places them among a small number of NHS Trusts leading the way in this area. 👏

This is particularly encouraging given that NHS England's Maternity and Neonatal Infrastructure Review (September 2025) found that 43% of maternity and neonatal estates across England did not meet basic health and safety compliance standards.

As local parents and families, it's reassuring to know that KGH is investing in creating a safer environment for those accessing maternity and neonatal care. Thank you to everyone involved in making these improvements happen.