Rachel Coleman, Registered Midwife

Professional Experience

I qualified as a registered nurse in 1993 from a London teaching hospital and worked for two years in acute and colorectal surgery. In 1996, I qualified as a midwife and have since held roles in both hospital and community settings in London and Bath. I currently work as a community midwife within an NHS Trust with an annual birthrate of 4,500. The Trust includes a central delivery suite, two standalone birth centres, two maternity units, and a homebirth rate above the national average. My responsibilities span antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care across these settings.

I hold advanced clinical competencies in high dependency care, fetal heart monitoring, epidural care, ventouse delivery, newborn life support, newborn infant physical examination, advanced perineal repair, and IV cannulation, phlebotomy, and drug administration. I have extensive experience in managing pregnancy loss and have contributed to guideline development in line with SANDS and the National Bereavement Pathway. I have led multidisciplinary reviews for cases involving hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and have authored Root Cause Analysis (RCA) reports and Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT) submissions for two NHS Trusts. I have also led quarterly maternity governance reporting and contributed to the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) maternity data analysis.

Professional Development

I have held senior roles including Quality Improvement and Education Lead and Quality and Safety Matron. These positions involved aligning local clinical guidance with national standards, implementing safety improvements, and leading education programmes to disseminate learning from serious incidents. I have developed and delivered fetal monitoring training, conducted daily fetal surveillance rounds, and led reviews of adverse events related to fetal monitoring. I have written and implemented Trust-wide education programmes to ensure consistent learning and safety improvements across maternity services.
I completed the Advanced Practitioner Pathway at the University of the West of England, with Masters-level modules in Leadership, Innovation, and Research. I am committed to ongoing professional development and have undertaken medico-legal training relevant to the NHS Resolution Early Notification Scheme. My clinical and governance experience enables me to contribute effectively to case reviews and safety investigations.