Today is International Day of the Midwife and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) are proudly celebrating the incredible achievements of midwives and the women they support. Since May 2024, NHSGGC midwives have assisted in the births of over 1,000 babies each month. That’s a remarkable total of 13,283 births over the past 12 months. Dr Mary Ross-Davie, Director of Maternity for NHSGGC, expressed her gratitude and admiration for the dedicated midwifery teams: “I am delighted that there is an international day to celebrate the staff who have such a strong commitment to supporting women on the pregnancy journey, in labour, and after their baby is born. "I am so thankful to our teams and applaud the amazing work that they have done this year.” This year has been transformative for NHSGGC's maternity services. The introduction of biannual surveys has allowed the service to better understand and respond to the needs of women. The results have shown a significant increase in satisfaction, with more women reporting positive experiences with their midwives, particularly in terms of continuity of care. “We have worked hard to improve that continuity of care, knowing how important it is to women,” said Mary. “Seeing the same midwife more frequently during pregnancy has been a key focus, and we are thrilled to see the positive impact it has had.” In addition to enhancing continuity of care, NHSGGC has recruited over 50 new midwives in the past year. These new team members have been instrumental in improving the experience for women accessing triage units, which serve as the maternity equivalent of emergency departments. Mary also highlighted the steps forward in mental health and wellbeing support. She said: “In addition to their existing initiatives and appointments, our perinatal mental health midwives have launched new wellbeing groups for women during pregnancy. These groups help women to learn about how to improve their mental wellbeing during what can be a really worrying time. Anyone interested in attending can simply ask their community midwife for information.” NHSGGC midwives are committed to listening to what matters to women. This year, they launched Maternity Voices, a group of women who have experienced the service. Their insights have been invaluable in shaping projects for the remainder of 2025. “We ask them for their opinions, what they loved and what they would like to change. Many of their insights have helped the service shape projects for the remainder of 2025,” added Mary. Here is a shout out to all midwives today. Thank you! Sign up to our daily Glasgow Live newsletter here to receive news and features direct to your inbox Join Glasgow Live's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.