A big ‘Hello’ to Carla Jones-Charles – our new Deputy Director of Midwifery, Gynaecology and Sexual Health.

Carla, who lives in Birmingham, joins Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust from Heartlands Hospital where she worked as Delivery Suite Matron for over five years.

In a role that supported more than 6000 women a year and managed around 140 members of staff, the mum of one is used to working as part of a large team and looks forward to building new relationships, both in and outside of Walsall’s maternity services.

Qualifying as a nurse in 1993 and as a midwife in 1998, Carla has worked not only to deliver babies, but to ensure the delivery of safe, high quality care across the midlands.

While working at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital Carla was the manager of the Maternity Assessment Unit. There she was able to develop and support triaging women – assessing them and giving advice on whether they needed to be admitted to Delivery Suite or stay at home.

“And in my role as Matron at University Hospital’s Birmingham I was able to develop a new pre-op pathway for women having elective caesareans and, again for elective caesareans, developed a midwifery staffing model.

“My team were one of the first to deliver on a continuity of care model for low risk births. It’s great to play a role in producing guidance and pathways, that when followed, ensure that mum’s and their babies are safe, happy and healthy.”

Now a hop, skip and a jump from Birmingham, Carla is keen to get stuck in to support staff with continued service improvement in our trust.

“Walsall is in a great position because it’s working hard to engage with its staff. The colleagues I’ve spoken to are enthusiastic and have got lots of good ideas on how we improve services for families.

“My role will mean focusing on the learning and ensuring that we are delivering operationally within the boundaries of safety – what’s gone well and in some cases, not so well. With this information we can improve and ensure we are offering the best care for our women and babies.

“I’m also eager to work with teams and families to ensure our pathways and processes are clear and that we continue to evidence good practice while identifying where we need to improve. This is really important to ensure that we are doing right by our patients.”