As we mark international midwife day, we caught up with our very own consultant midwife as she shares her unique career journey.
As one of only two consultant midwives within the ambulance service, Dawn Kerslake has helped transform maternity care in the pre-hospital environment.
Dawn joined the Trust seven years ago, bringing a wealth of experience and insight to the service which many across the Trust have found in valuable.
With this year’s awareness day, to be marked on Monday, 5 May and themed ‘midwives: critical in every crisis’, it seemed rather fitting that we caught up with our Consultant Midwife, Dawn Kerslake.
What inspired you to become a midwife?
I started my career as an emergency department nurse. This was following an illness I had as a child, and I had an amazing nurse care for me which inspired me to go into healthcare. I then went onto train as a midwife as I thought it sounded fabulous. I’ve loved it! I enjoy advocating for women and pregnant people and my current role with ambulance clinicians has been my career highlight, for sure.
What does your role at SECAmb involve?
I lead on training for our frontline colleagues and review cases when required. Part of my role involves supporting external organisations such as maternity and newborn safety investigations (MNSI) and trusts doing the same by advising on equipment improvements for pre-hospital use.
I also work with the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC) by providing guidance to support pathways. We now also have a national maternity leads group representing all ambulance services across the UK. I meet with them regularly to discuss and share ideas on the progression and work of maternity care within the sector.
Recently, I’ve been working on some major projects including the Resuscitation Council UK’s out-of-hospital newborn resuscitation course which is almost ready to go live. Growing a national faculty which started as eight of us has been an enormous undertaking.
This is in conjunction with smaller quality improvement projects such as red phones on labour wards which are also coming very soon – some are already live in Sussex.
I have been very fortunate, however, to have critical care paramedic, Ellie and student critical care paramedic, Callum, helping me. Both are honorary midwives, and I’d like to say a massive thank you to them!
What is something you love about your job?
Supporting the most incredible process and ensuring people have a positive birth experience, however this may be.
What are some of the challenges you face as a midwife?
Having conversations about bad outcomes never gets easier, despite having experience and doing it multiple times. Getting this right is so important and probably something we all must learn very quickly in our careers. But overall, I love what I do, and it is a very rewarding job being able to help people.
This year’s theme is ‘midwives: critical in every crisis’. What does this mean to you?
For me it’s about being competently able to manage whatever eventuality happens next in a calm and measured way while engaging with the patient and offering reassurance where appropriate.
Celebrated on 5 May each year, the day honours midwives across the globe and celebrates the vital role they play in our communities. Not only in bringing new life into the world, but in navigating some of the most challenging and unpredictable situations with compassion, skill, and resilience.