MIDIRS - Midwifery Information & Resource Service

17/12/2025

MIDIRS Wrapped 2025 is here! Swipe to take a look back on some of our achievements over the past year. 💗

We are so proud to continue to provide evidence-based resources to midwives, maternity support workers, students and allied health professionals around the world. Our 2025 statistics demonstrate how busy Team MIDIRS has been ensuring that the latest maternity research is brought to our subscribers.

As we head into our 40th year as an organisation, look out for special features, events and information across our socials and website. We can't wait to celebrate with you! 🎉

Be sure to make the most of your subscription, including our free student journal club, the MIC database (the world's largest midwifery-specific literature database), our quarterly Digest, and our weekly Latest Research Update newsletter.

Interested in subscribing? Head to our website to learn more. https://rcm.org.uk/midirs/midirs-subscribe/

14/12/2025

The 'Hot Topic' for December's edition of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest is written by Mary Warrilow, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Lipoedema UK.

MIDIRS Editor Sara Webb writes in the foreword "Lipoedema is a chronic, often under-recognised adipose tissue condition that predominantly affects those assigned female at birth; it's often misunderstood and misdiagnosed as obesity or lymphoedema, leaving many women struggling to get an accurate diagnosis, treatment or care. Mary discusses how midwives are uniquely placed to see early signs of lipoedema, and therefore to increase the likelihood of its earlier diagnosis and management. MIDIRS is delighted to partner with Lipoedema UK to help promote the Lipoedema awareness campaign".

You can read Mary's article in the latest edition of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest. Head to our website to learn more. 📚

https://rcm.org.uk/midirs/midirs-midwifery-digest/

11/12/2025

📣 Midwives voices are needed in shaping research into childbirth-related perineal trauma📣

A project led by Chapter group (Childbirth Acquired Perineal Trauma project) and Chorus group (an International Collaboration for Harmonising Outcomes, Research and Standards in Urogynaecology and Women's Health) is seeking midwives, alongside other healthcare professionals, to create a core set of outcomes that will improve consistency and efficacy of research.

These outcomes, which cover all types of perineal trauma, will be decided by three surveys, followed by a consensus meeting. All respondents who complete all three survey rounds will be invited to the collaborative authorship in the final core outcome set publication.

Head to the link below to register for the survey and help improve research:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=z8oksN7eQUKhXDyX1VPp86k8Swk7EzFFgFROfmPiBYRUMUk0TzcxOVEwNFJUUTdFQk9BSkpLRlhNVC4u

09/12/2025

MIDIRS Search Pack of the Month for December reinforces our mission to supply maternity health care professionals with evidence-based resources to develop knowledge and practice. 📚

Our Search Packs are pre-made literature searches on topics within maternity research. They contain a comprehensive bibliographic list of articles as well as article abstracts. Head to our website below to learn more about our mission and access our final free Search Pack of 2025. ✨

https://rcm.org.uk/blog/2025/12/evidence-based-practice-search-pack-of-the-month-december/

05/12/2025

New on MIDIRS blog: Dr Sarah Bolger, a dual-qualified nurse and midwife and Senior Lecturer in Midwifery, discusses the impact of workplace culture in maternity service, and the importance of organisations listening to maternity staff.

Read here: https://buff.ly/4A2uhIk

03/12/2025

📣 Student Midwives: Join MIDIRS and the Midwives-in-Training Research and Journal Review Club for an online webinar on the role of students in research📣

This session is hosted by Michelle McKay, Course Director for Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Staffordshire. She will be joined by Emily Bates, a third-year midwifery student who is part of a student team shortlisted for the Excellence in Research category at the RCM Awards.

Emily will present on an exploratory piece of research designed to open up discussion around the 40-Birth requirement and its impact on student experience, learning opportunities and student wellbeing. She will share her involvement in research from a student perspective, showing the value of student voices in shaping meaningful change.

Book your free ticket on our Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/student-as-researchers-building-research-informed-midwifery-education-tickets-1976459838582?aff=oddtdtcreator

We hope to see you there!💗

02/12/2025

The St George Fetal Monitoring Group has announced a free perinatal symposium: Bridging the Gaps Between Maternity Care Standards, Regulation, and Resource, happening on 16 December.

The symposium provides a forum for solution-focused conversations, sharing experiences and insights that can be applied to clinical practice.

This year's panellists include:
🌟 Dame Lesley Regan, Women's Health Ambassador for England, Former President of the RCOG, and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Imperial College London
🌟 Devender Roberts, National CQC Advisor, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board/Women's Health Programme Lead

Book today at the Eventbrite link below or by emailing seminarsinperinatology@stgeorges.nhs.uk

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/perinatal-symposium-bridging-the-gaps-between-regulation-and-resource-tickets-1965452481280?aff=oddtdtcreator

01/12/2025

Our December 2025 issue of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest is now live! Swipe to see this edition's table of contents, which spans topics from the NHS Staff Survey to neonatal hypoglycaemia.

For print subscribers, the latest issue should be with you in the next few days. For digital subscribers, our digital mailing run is on the way: please note, for new digital subscribers, your copy may be delayed until next week.

If you have any problems with receiving your copy, please get in touch. Happy reading 📚

26/11/2025

🔎 Registered midwives working in the UK in clinical or non-clinical settings are invited to participate in an online survey about AI in midwifery.

This survey is part of a PhD led by Fiona Gibb exploring the use of generative AI to support midwives' professional development. The survey aims to understand the barriers midwives face in continuing professional development and explore midwives' awareness, experience and openness to using generative AI tools.

Head to the link below to participate.

https://edin.ac/3XceaBn

24/11/2025

Happy MSW Celebration Day! 🎉

Happy MSW Celebration Day to all of our maternity support workers and maternity care assistants. The work you do is invaluable and we are so grateful to have you in our community. Please tag us in pictures of your celebrations today - we can't wait to see what you have in store!

We'll also be sharing a series of amazing people that are MSWs and MCAs so keep an eye out across our socials for some familiar faces.

19/11/2025

Out now on MIDIRS blog: Dr Lucy Goddard discusses the history, use and stigma surrounding ni**le shields, and introduces her research project aimed at supporting women and healthcare professionals to make informed decisions around ni**le shield use.

Plus, learn how you can contribute to the project and receive £25 for your time. Head to our website to read the article!

https://rcm.org.uk/blog/2025/11/ni**le-shields-for-breastfeeding/

17/11/2025

MIDIRS spotted at graduation!🎓

Congratulations to Elisa Russo, one of our MIDIRS Midwifery Digest authors, on her graduation from the University of Greenwich. Elisa also received an award for outstanding achievement 🎉

Elisa is pictured here with her lecturers - Dr Yemi Onilude (Doctor of Education & Senior Lecturer in Midwifery), Hannah Turner (Lecturer in Midwifery), and Deniece Hardy (Senior Lecturer in Midwifery and Elisa's dissertation supervisor who supported her with her publication for MIDIRS).

Congratulations from all of us at MIDIRS - we love to see your success stories! 💗

You can read Elisa's article 'What is the effect of hypnobirthing on childbirth outcomes? A literature review' by purchasing a copy of our latest edition of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest.

Images by Zanato Media 📸