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Respect, Rights & Real Midwifery
The ARM toolkit

Sat 14 Nov 2026
9:30am - 4pm
The Secular Hall, Leicester, LE1 1WB

How do we not only survive but thrive in midwifery?

Our winter meeting brings together midwives, students and supporters for a day of shared experience and practical thinking.

Speakers
As lead editor of upcoming edition of Mayes’ Midwifery and author of Surviving and Thriving in Midwifery, Dr Sally Pezaro is an established research and academic leader. They will be speaking on the themes of their book.

Molly O’Brien is a midwife of more than 28 years and the creator of the biomechanics for birth education programmes for midwives and birth professionals. She will be speaking on supporting the latent phase.

Dr Lisa Common qualified as a midwife in 2008 and has been a Consultant Midwife in Nottingham since 2018, with a particular interest in reducing health inequalities. She will share the evaluation of a 30-month Pregnancy Mentor project offering extra antenatal and postnatal support in the city’s neighbourhoods facing the greatest health inequalities.

Amy Miller is a doctoral researcher with Co(l)laboratory, a collaborative research programme across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, bringing a perspective shaped by 12 years at home raising children. She will share emerging findings on vulnerability and antenatal education, drawing on the experiences of marginalised mothers in Nottingham.

Whether you are a midwife, student midwife, doula, parent or birth worker, you are welcome.

ARM members pay a reduced rate at every meeting, conference and webinar. Membership is £50 a year and includes four issues of Midwifery Matters, among other benefits

ARM Member – £20 | Non-ARM Member – £25
ARM Student Midwife Member – £10 | Non-ARM student midwife member – £15

www.midwifery.org.uk/event/arm-winter-national-meeting/

Because Midwifery Matters.

@biomechanics_for_birth @theacademicmidwife
@uon_midsoc @leics.midsoc @leicestermidwifery by @radicalmidwives

Our special 50th anniversary edition of Midwifery Matters (Summer 2026 issue) is out now.

ARM was founded in 1976, and members began writing the newsletters that became this magazine in 1978. To celebrate, this edition is double our usual size, with a focus on honouring our roots.

Inside you'll find founding members Marianne and Judy on the beginnings of ARM, their motivations, inspirations, and how the name was chosen. Jane and Soo reflect on training in the 1970s and 80s and the future of maternity care. There's a full report from our June conference, Midwifery Must Matter! Honouring our past to shape our future, plus articles on 1970s feminism, the birth culture of the 80s and 90s, rigidity in maternity, the medicalisation of birth, poems, personal reflections, and our latest campaigning.

This is a part of what ARM membership looks like. www.midwifery.org.uk/join-us/

Because Midwifery Matters.

@radicalmidwives @lucybuddingwood @amywilliamswrites_ @breatheahr @selkiewife27 @expectancyct @midwives_rcm @nhsenglandldn @leahhazard @birthbetter @floradixuk by @radicalmidwives

Among the feedback from our 50th Anniversary Conference was one answer that summed up one of the reasons why ARM exists. Asked whether she was a member, one attendee wrote "joining today. . . I feel I have found my tribe."

For fifty years ARM has been a supportive network where midwives, students and birthworkers find each other; people who share the belief that birth belongs to women and that midwifery is worth protecting. If that is what you have been looking for, you will find it here too.

Comment MEMBER and we'll send you the link, or join us at www.midwifery.org.uk/join-us/

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

Midwifery is at a crossroads, and maternity services are in crisis. But the midwives who ask too many questions and speak up for women have always been the ones who changed care, and we come from a long line of them.

Join us in Leicester on Saturday 14 November for a day of knowledge, skills and solidarity with Dr Sally Pezaro, Molly O’Brien, Dr Lisa Common and Amy Miller. Tickets from £10, lunch included. Comment MEETING for the booking link.

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

Black women in the UK are nearly three times more likely than White women to die in pregnancy or the six weeks after, according to the latest MBRRACE-UK report. Women living in the most deprived areas face twice the risk. These gaps have been documented for years, and the question is what services can do about them.

At our Winter National Meeting, Dr Lisa Common, Consultant Midwife in Nottingham, will share the evaluation of a 30-month Pregnancy Mentor project in Nottingham City. Experienced Maternity Support Workers worked alongside community midwives in the neighbourhoods facing the greatest health inequalities and racial disparities, offering targeted support before and after birth.

Respect, Rights & Real Midwifery: The ARM toolkit
Saturday 14 November, 9:30am to 4pm, The Secular Hall, Leicester
Tickets £10 to £25, link in bio.

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

WHO ARE THEY?
An occasional column about those influencing UK maternity care and the relationships between them.
By The Undercover Midwife

Magazine for ARM members only.
www.midwifery.org.uk/join-us/

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

Midwifery is hard right now, and many of us are carrying it alone. On Saturday 14 November we are spending a day together in Leicester asking one question: how do we not only survive, but thrive?

As lead editor of upcoming edition of Mayes’ Midwifery and author of Surviving and Thriving in Midwifery, Dr Sally Pezaro is an established research and academic leader. They will be speaking on the themes of their book.

Molly O’Brien is a midwife of more than 28 years and the creator of the biomechanics for birth education programmes for midwives and birth professionals. She will be speaking on supporting the latent phase.

Dr Lisa Common qualified as a midwife in 2008 and has been a Consultant Midwife in Nottingham since 2018, with a particular interest in reducing health inequalities. She will share the evaluation of a 30-month Pregnancy Mentor project offering extra antenatal and postnatal support in the city’s neighbourhoods facing the greatest health inequalities.

Amy Miller is a doctoral researcher with Co(l)laboratory, a collaborative research programme across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, bringing a perspective shaped by 12 years at home raising children. She will share emerging findings on vulnerability and antenatal education, drawing on the experiences of marginalised mothers in Nottingham.

There will also be time to share experience with midwives, students, doulas and parents who understand.

Tickets are £10 to £25 and include a light lunch.

Comment MEETING and we will send you the booking link.
https://www.midwifery.org.uk/event/arm-winter-national-meeting/

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

In her poem for our 50th anniversary, Jane Tucker traces a life in midwifery.

Read it in full in Midwifery Matters Summer 2026 issue. Comment ARTICLE for the link.

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

Please bear with us and WATCH THIS SPACE. We are still in the process of organising with the venue and making sure this will be an incredible event.

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

Continuity of carer is not a nice-to-have. It is the model with the most consistent evidence behind it. Women who know their midwife feel heard, and decades of trials have found no harm. The research is about the full pathway, including labour and birth, and that detail matters whenever "continuity" gets watered down to a familiar face at antenatal appointments.

We know the workforce isn't there to run it everywhere yet. That is an argument for building the workforce, not for abandoning the model.

If this matters to you: www.midwifery.org.uk/join-us/

Because Midwifery Matters.

Sources:
Sandall J, Fernandez Turienzo C, Devane D, et al. Midwife continuity of care models versus other models of care for childbearing women. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2024. doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004667.pub6
Sandall J, Soltani H, Gates S, et al. Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016. doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004667.pub5 by @radicalmidwives

Be inspired. Join us at our upcoming Winter 2026 National Meeting, this time in Leicester.

Respect, Rights & Real Midwifery
The ARM toolkit
Sat 14 Nov 2026 • 9:30AM - 4PM
The Secular Hall, Leicester, LE1 1WB
Tickets £10 - £25

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives

NEW BLOG: "You're not a real midwife" — the trials and tribulations of Midwifery Governance.

Governance is often seen as the part of maternity care that blames and reprimands. One midwife who chose patient safety as her specialism argues the opposite: making mistakes is not a design flaw, but a way we continuously learn and build resilience. Safer care starts with policies built around the people who work within them, and a team where no one is left with the "what ifs".

Comment BLOG for the link.

Because Midwifery Matters. by @radicalmidwives