UHMBT will soon be welcoming Heather Gallagher as its new Director of Midwifery following a recruitment process.
Heather trained as a nurse in Leeds at the School of Healthcare in 1998 and as a midwife in 2000 at Hull University. She spent her first 15 years in the north region working in maternity services, where she undertook her first MSc in Health Services Research at the University of York in 2005, which led to a research joint nursing and midwifery post within clinical trials.
Following a move from the north in 2015, Heather moved across the east region working in a range of clinical, operational and senior leadership roles within midwifery and nursing, including Consultant Midwife, Deputy Head of Midwifery, and Associate Director of Midwifery. She also undertook a further MSc in Healthcare Leadership in 2017.
Heather moved into the London region in 2019 as a Head of Midwifery/ Lead Nurse for Women’s Health but moved back to the North to take a Director of Midwifery post-COVID-19 to be closer to family.
Heather is a previous Florence Nightingale Aspiring Director of Nursing/Midwifery scholar, and in 2018, won an Iolanthe Midwife Award for a project looking at psychological health first aid post traumatic incident through Professional Midwifery Advocates.
Heather, said: “I am really excited to be joining the team at UHMBT. I am so passionate about maternity services, and am really focused and driven on working with teams and supporting them to deliver outstanding, compassionate care that is responsive to the local needs of the communities.
“I am particularly interested in research and evidence-based care, speaking out in maternity services, leadership and talent management, and experienced based co-design for service development and improvement; and I look forward to working with colleagues to see how we can use all of this to make a positive difference to the lives of local women and families.”
Aaron Cummins, Chief Executive, UHMBT, said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming Heather to our team. Heather’s experience and passion for maternity services will fit perfectly with our teams’ drive and dedication to further improve maternity services across the Trust.
“We have made some significant changes to our maternity services over recent years but we still have work to do. I am confident that under Heather’s leadership, our teams will feel empowered to do what needs to be done to ensure we are offering the best possible services to families in our local communities.”
Heather will start in post in mid-April 2022.