Visiting Professor elected as Royal College of Midwives president
Posted on 09/03/2012
Professor Lesley Page
Professor Lesley Page, visiting professor at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, has been elected as the new president of the Royal College of Midwives. Lesley, who was the first professor of midwifery in the UK at Thames Valley University and Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, is a renowned international academic, advocate and activist for midwives, mothers and babies. Her accomplished career has encompassed clinical practice, management and leadership, as well as academic and policy work.
Professor Page said: “I am a midwife’s midwife and know that in order to support women and their families midwives themselves need to be supported and nurtured. I have also been a supervisor of midwives and expert witness, so I can understand and empathise with the most difficult situations that midwives may face on the frontline when things go wrong.”
Throughout her extensive academic career, Professor Page has continued in clinical practice and is an active midwifery practitioner, currently on clinical attachment at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust’s Cotswold Maternity Service. She is also a visiting professor at the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney. Her book “The New Midwifery: Science and Sensitivity in Practice” has been an influential text for midwives around the world, and has been translated into several other languages.
Professor Page continued: “We cannot work in isolation, and I want to continue to be involved in active collaborative work with other professional organisations, Higher Education Institutions and patient or service user groups. My aim has always been – and will always be - to develop woman-centred care and rewarding and meaningful work for midwives.”
Professor Page will take over from out-going President Liz Stephens on 2nd April 2012. She will be inaugurated at the RCM’s Annual Event in York on 14th June 2012.