Introducing the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) has welcomed the progress of developing its Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP).
The introduction of MNVPs ensures service users have a voice throughout the decision-process of their maternity and neonatal journeys.
The role of MNVPs is to have robust and challenging conversations, gathering lived experience information, to enable improvements to maternity and neonatal services.
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire’s ICB has seen progress in developing the MNVP and has recruited two positions that will engage with diverse local communities and relationship-building between the acute trusts North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals and Weston NHS Trust.
Layla Green, Maternity and Neonatal Lead for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB, said:
“Our new Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership officers, Rim and Rhoda will be instrumental in bringing about service improvement of our maternity services within BNSSG. Rim will focus on widening engagement and gathering maternity services feedback from our diverse range of service users in the community, while Rhoda will build and foster strong relationships with UHBW and NBT maternity services to ensure lessons learnt from the service users transform into meaningful change and improvement for our population.
“We’re very excited and grateful to welcome them into the Local Maternity and Neonatal System team of BNSSG.”
About Rhoda Adu-Nti and Rim Salah
Rhoda has most recently worked as a Clinical Administrator with human rights charity Freedom from Torture before being appointed by the MNVP.
Her role at the MNVP focusses on gaining insight into maternity and neonatal service user experience, working with hospital trusts and service providers to look at ways in which the areas identified as needing improvement can deliver a higher standard of service and care.
Having lived experience of birth trauma and of using maternity services during the pandemic, Rhoda believes there are many aspects of maternity and neonatal healthcare that need to be re-evaluated and transformed, particularly for the benefit of underrepresented and minoritised communities.
In collaboration her colleague Rim (the new Community Engagement Officer – who will acquire valuable information from individuals and communities in the way of contributing feedback about their experiences), she is determined to make a positive difference for families in the BNSSG area by acting as an intermediary who can engage with service providers, informing them of findings, and recommend changes that can be implemented to create better experiences for all going forward.
Rim has a rich background in healthcare, having worked across various healthcare settings. Her passion for community health developed while working with a vascular prevention programme, where she began to see the broader impact of healthcare initiatives on diverse populations.
As someone from a minority background, she feels the importance of greater representation in healthcare research and the need to amplify underrepresented voices. This perspective has driven her towards working with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP), collaborating with a wide range of communities, organisations, and settings.
She will be the Engagement Officer, and is looking forward to expanding these efforts, allowing her to work closely with diverse groups, foster connections, and help drive initiatives that improve the health and well-being of people across the BNSSG area. She is looking forward to contributing to meaningful change and ensure that everyone’s voice is heard in shaping healthcare.
The Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB MNVP has been formed as part of NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services.