Caroline Duncombe, Registered Midwife

Professional Experience

I qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1984 and as a Midwife in 1995. From 1995 to 2016, I worked full-time in the NHS across all core areas of maternity care, including labour ward, antenatal and postnatal wards, community, clinics, and assessment units. I held senior clinical roles and contributed to governance and service improvement initiatives. Since retiring from clinical practice in the NHS in 2016, I continued to practise as a midwife through NHS Professionals, maintaining a part-time clinical presence.
From 2016 to 2022, I also held a governance role as Maternity Data Intelligence & Assurance Lead, undertaking root cause analyses and serious incident investigations.

From 2023, I returned to clinical practice in antenatal clinics and assessment units, and since January 2024, I have worked as a community midwife.

Between 1999 and 2009, I held a concurrent role as a Diabetes Specialist Midwife (DSM), later developing the DSM service full-time in a different Trust until 2012. I undertook secondments as Maternity Clinical Governance Lead (2012) and Trust Lead for Clinical Risk (2013), followed by a substantive role as Midwifery Lead for Quality and Assurance until my retirement in 2016.

Professional Development

I have consistently maintained clinical competence through annual mandatory training and targeted CPD. From 2001 to 2015, I served as a Supervisor of Midwives, providing professional leadership, mentoring, and support during NMC proceedings. Between 2007 and 2009, I lectured part-time at a university and completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning.
I was an instructor for the nationally accredited ALSO (Advanced Life Saving in Obstetrics) course from 2001 until its closure in 2018, delivering multidisciplinary emergency obstetric training. I continue to contribute to voluntary maternity training programmes overseas, including in India and Nigeria, with a focus on reducing maternal and neonatal mortality.