Just letting you all know about the next events in our calender! There's about 12 of us involved at the moment but we'd love to have more mums and partners.

1) SUNDAY (24TH April) we're at the Bump and Baby event at the Hotel Victoria in Lowestoft, do come along and chat if you're there! We'll have feedback forms and cake at the stall, as well as a senior midwife from JPH to answer any questions from bumps or new mums

2)  MONDAY (25TH April) is our next quarterly 'FORMAL' meeting with JPH staff, county council, health commissioners etc. It will be at 10am-12 in the families room at Seagulls Childrens Centre (Shrublands), Gorleston NR31 7BP. 
We have a full agenda (email us for a copy, plus minutes of the last one), which will include elections for the roles of Chair, Vice Chair and treasurer. Light refreshments will be available and babies and toddlers are welcome. The formal meeting is quite businesslike and we tend not to discuss individual cases unless it illustrates a key trend in recent survey results or addresses on of the key working areas. This time two focus areas will be on making sure ladies with existing or new mental health issues are given the support they need, and the difficulties faced by non-English speakers. These meetings are open to any interested party but please confirm with the chair/vice beforehand (email us or use the contact page).

3) Wednesday 29th June: two events at Great Yarmouth Library.
- 12.30-1.45pm: A listening event for ladies/partners with limited English 
- 2 pm- 3.30pm INFORMAL Birth Voices user rep/new members meeting plus feedback welcome from any new mums (last 2 years). Any new mums/partners/community representatives are welcome and we'd love to hear your opinions! The aim of this meeting is two-way feedback. We will listen to new feedback from you, and share what else we've been hearing from others. We'll then discuss what issues we want to raise at the next formal meeting, as well as whether we're happy with what JPH is doing about previous feedback.

4) FRIDAY 15TH JULY: Next FORMAL quarterly meeting, 10-12 noon at Kirkley Childrens centre in South Lowestoft. We are considering holding a 'coffee morning' style listening event from 12-2 at the same place - all mums and and partners and little ones welcome! This would be for Lowestoft/suffolk-based mums that might not want to drive to Yarmouth for the June one! Let us know if you'd be interested and we can confirm it with the venue.

We hope to see some new faces at some of these - do get in touch if you're interested :)

Gemma (Acting chair)

This week we met with a lady from Norfolk County Council Public Health to ask her about the changes in breastfeeding support for mothers in Norfolk. When Suffolk ladies leave the James Paget Hospital (JPUH), they receive a telephone call from the Breastfeeding Team within a few days to ask how they are getting on and offer a home visit if they need further support with feeding. From my own experience, it really does feel like you are supported every step of the way.

When Norfolk ladies leave the hospital, there has been confusion about what support they can receive. When calling the Suffolk hotline the team have to unfortunately turn them away and signpost them to services in Norfolk. 

​The upshot of the response was that there is still support out there for Norfolk mums-  but it has now been transferred to the Health Visitors. The official response they have asked us to pass on is:

"In Norfolk, breastfeeding support is available via a Breastfeeding Practitioner and the Health Visitor Teams by telephone call, a home visit or clinic appointment. If you require breastfeeding support in Great Yarmouth locality, contact Mandi, Breastfeeding Practitioner on 07929 330165 or speak to your Health Visitor. There is a drop-in baby café every weekday in the Great Yarmouth and surrounding areas. To find out where your nearest baby café is, visit www.norfolk.gov.uk/norfolkslivingwell. There is also a national breastfeeding hotline on 0300 100 0212 open 9:30am-9:30pm every day of the year. The breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks are monitored for all localities in Norfolk. It would be useful to hear feedback from local women on the support they have received."

We at Birth Voices are happy to pass on any feedback (positive or negative) from local women on how this is working. Email us on birthvoiceseast@yahoo.co.uk or use the contact form on this website.

Anyway, we just wanted to let you all know who to contact if you need help! 

We also have a feedback survey on this page, so your experience of local maternity care can help JPH learn what is working well and what needs improving, so others can benefit from improved maternity care.

Thanks for reading,
Your 'Birth Voices' team x