Harrogate Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) is lead by the Acting Chair (Ruth) and Neonatal Lead (Hannah). We work with a friendly group of volunteers and professionals. Together we gather information from maternity service users in our area to shape and develop local maternity services. We do this because your voice matters and we want to hear about your experiences to celebrate and build on everything positive whilst acknowledging and working on areas that could be improved.

The MNVP committee is made up of a small group of service users, user representatives^* and healthcare professionals. Committee meetings are held regularly, where feedback from service users is reviewed.

Updates on changes that have been implemented from previous feedback received is recorded for our annual review.

The annual review is produced each year and delivered to service users at the annual ‘Your Voice Matters’ meet up which is an open event.

Ruth

About

Hi, I’m Ruth. I am the Acting Chair and Social and Engagement Lead for Harrogate Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership in Harrogate.

I’m a mum of three. My eldest was born in York Hospital and my younger two in Harrogate.

I work in digital marketing and joined the MNVP in February 2022 as a volunteer. I applied for the Social Media and Engagement Lead when the job came up and haven’t looked back since. I feel lucky to be doing something that I am so passionate about!

Hannah

About

Hello! I’m Hannah and I’m thrilled to join the team as the new Neonatal Lead for Harrogate.

I had my twin boys in Harrogate at 29 weeks gestation. I know some of the staff at SCBU still remember me ruining their nice peaceful Sunday afternoon! The three of us were quickly whisked off to LGI where we remained for 13 days before being transferred to St James for what ended up being 7 weeks! After some ups and downs and some of the hardest weeks of my life we were FINALLY transferred back to Harrogate for 3 further weeks before we made it home.

Since then I have been working closely with the wider North Yorkshire and Humber Neonatal team to try to help improve services where possible and ensure the parent voice is always heard. This in turn has been a wonderful opportunity to meet other parents and ‘bang the drum’ about some of the fantastic things being done across the network to support families on their Neonatal Journey.

Interests

Absolutely anything that brings a smile to my kids’ faces. As a mum of two boys that is often some form of heavy machinery so you will often find me riding trains, buses or staring at tractors on any and all local farms.

I love to sing, bake and spend time with some wonderful friends and a very supportive family.

What would you like to achieve as the Neonatal Lead?

My aim is to provide as much support to families as I can manage. Neonates can be a scary and traumatic time that doesn’t end when you leave hospital, so I want everyone to know they are not alone, that I am here for any and all questions.

* User representatives: local people who are passionate about volunteering time to help, support and shape local maternity services.