Rachel's profile

Who am I?

AKA radical Rachel, early 30's, physics graduate and also student of midwifery.

I like working with people, making a genuine difference to those who are vulnerable and are disadvantaged. I am committed to socialist and feminist values and beliefs and thrive in an intellectually challenging and results-based environment. I am also known for pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box.

I dislike the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator selfishness of the generation today. I identify with Lynn Truss's articulation of social patterns of rudeness in her second book, Talk to my hand .

I do not believe in devolving the direct care giving to unqualified staff or the use of skill mix for the wrong reasons (economy, feminising professional roles). The current tendency to dilute professional roles, boundaries and identities as well as spin and quick fix culture are not part of my world.

My view on normality:

Normality in childbirth is not considered sexy enough in the UK, and those midwives who are committed to normality are not valued and rewarded accordingly. Midwifery has accepted the lowest common denominator in recruiting, retaining and promoting the midwives who are compliant and politically correct. In other words we see all "yes" women in senior positions. As a learner I am subjected to role models who are not confident or competent, and are too busy worrying about "family-friendly policies" rather than promoting normality and professional practice.

Share my experience:

I took a gap year following the completion of my first degree. During this year I worked in a makeshift health centre where the majority of our clients were pregnant women. These women had nothing; the health centre had basic equipment to undertake emergency births. I was amazed at the midwifery skills, confidence and the competence of midwives in promoting normality and enabling these women in rural community to have normal, physiological and joyful birth experiences. I joined a midwifery education programme with these experiences and wanted to emulate the serenity and professionalism of the midwives I had seen in action there. As you can imagine, I am always in trouble for not "going with the flow" in UK maternity units.