Welcome to Birth Voices East!

We are a volunteer group that work with James Paget Hospital and the Local Maternity and Neonatal System leaders to represent the voices of local pregnant people, new parents and their birth partners on maternity services around Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Beccles and Southwold. 

We are officially called a ‘Maternity Voices Partnership' (MVP), and every maternity unit is supposed to have one, we are chaired by Service Users- Jodie Butcher and Kaya Thorpe.  

​We meet regularly with the Better Birth's midwife, midwifery leaders including the Head and Deputy Head of Midwifery along with other maternity staff, local government, public health, health visiting, Local Maternity and Neonatal Service staff and commissioners etc. 
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Our purpose is to gather and analyse feedback from pregnant people, new parents and their families. We work with service designers to co-produce services based on the wishes and needs of you, the people that use the maternity services.

You might feel that alone, your opinions and feelings about your maternity care (whether good or bad) would not make a difference. But ​by speaking collectively, we can make sure our voices are taken seriously and we can collaborate to design services that suit the needs of those people that use them.

Do you know you can ask for a "Birth Debrief" with the Birth Afterthoughts service at JPUH?

​A birth debrief is an appointment with a senior midwife who discusses your individual labour/maternity care and refers to your notes to explain what happened and tries to answer any questions you might have. This can be done up to 7 years after the birth.

​Call antenatal clinic for an appointment, or email birthafterthoughts@jpaget.nhs.uk to find out more. Alternatively,
click here to see the poster on the JPUH website
What do we do with the feedback we receive?
We pass on the results of these surveys to the hospital, commissioners and Local Maternity and Neonatal Service leaders. We flag up any trends in comments (positive or negative) and follow these up with the maternity department, hospital management, regional commissioning body, Local Maternity and Neonatal Service leaders or Healthwatch (a 'watchdog' for health services).

Our Feedback survey is anonymous, so you will not get any individual response to your comments - but you are welcome to contact us to discuss your experience in more detail. You might also wish to ask JPUH for a 'birth debrief' with a senior midwife.

See our blog posts for updates on what we're doing and how your feedback is helping shape maternity services!

We are always looking for more people (parents, co-parents and partners!) to get involved, it can be as simple as helping us put up posters in GP surgeries, or talking to new parents at baby groups, right through to social media management, analysing survey responses and presenting at meetings.

Please contact us via this page or email birthvoiceseast@yahoo.co.uk if you would like to hear more about what we do.