Shrewsbury mum trains as midwife thanks to volunteer scheme
A mother whose daughter was born prematurely is retraining as a midwife.Bailey Thompson, from Shrewsbury, was inspired to take part in the 'Volunteer to Career' scheme that helps people get work experience in healthcare.The project is piloted by charity Helpforce and has 48 NHS organisations across England taking part."It gave me a chance to see if [midwifery] was a real passion, and it was," Bailey said.
Bailey, who grew up in Kansas, USA, lives in Shrewsbury with her husband and two daughters. In 2023, her second daughter Sophie was born prematurely at just 33 weeks and 6 days at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. While Sophie was being looked after on the neonatal ward, Bailey said she was in and out of the hospital for seven weeks.The 36-year-old former business recruiter had previously wondered about becoming a midwife, and remembered asking staff about shift patterns and workloads before coming across a poster for the Volunteer to Career scheme.
"I'm not super spiritual or anything but I felt that it was a sign meant for me," she said. Bailey applied for the programme that day - even completing the interview whilst at the hospital with her daughter. "It just took me into this journey that I didn't really know existed because it allowed me to dip my toes into the water," she said.
Volunteer to Career aims to address recruitment issues in the health services by helping people without prior knowledge of healthcare gain the skills and experience needed to apply for jobs or courses. Over six months, participants complete a minimum of 50 hours of volunteering alongside hospital staff, but they can do more - Bailey estimates she volunteered close to 200 hours in total. They are also offered extra classes on clinical skills, like suturing and interview techniques to assist with future job or university applications. Julia Clarke, the Director of Public Participation at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, said the scheme has been a triumph.
"The success rate of people going on to work in the NHS or study for an NHS role is about 80% - but ours [in Shropshire] is even higher," she said. Ms Clarke added that the volunteer cohorts have been "really enthusiastic", with most volunteering more than the 50-hour minimum. Feedback from participants and existing NHS staff has been "universally positive", she noted. "It just gives people an insight into the wider aspects of the NHS."
Ms Thompson is now in her first year of studying midwifery at the University of Staffordshire - all thanks to the vital experience she gained as a volunteer."I really love getting to support women through this time - you're at this precipice of life with them," she said."It's also about supporting people through the difficult times [...] and finding that compassion to sit beside someone in silence when they don't have the words."
Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
I can't shift pink marks on my skin – they keep popping up but I can't get a GP appointment
Got a health-related problem? Send it to Zoe, email below ASK DR ZOE I can't shift pink marks on my skin – they keep popping up but I can't get a GP appointment Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) OUR resident specialist and NHS GP, Dr Zoe Williams, shares her expert advice. Today, Dr Zoe helps a reader who has noticed marks on their skin. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Dr Zoe Williams helps Sun readers with their health concerns Credit: Olivia West 2 A reader sent in an image of their rash Credit: supplied Q) I HAVE some skin marks that I first noticed last year. I tried to see my doctor but could only get a phone consultation which, as you can imagine, was useless. They wanted me to email a picture, but I couldn't access the site. I've used a steroid cream, which I had for a different issue, and found it makes the marks go, but after a while, more appear elsewhere. They aren't sore or itchy, but this is really getting me down. Can you help? A) Thank you for sending the images of the rash, which appear to show oval salmon-pink-coloured patches on your torso. While seeing images of skin is helpful, we doctors usually need to get a history from the patient in order to make a diagnosis. I would like to know if, prior to the rash appearing, there was a single larger patch that came up first. If this was the case, then that would likely be the herald patch – a sign of the harmless skin condition pityriasis rosea. It usually gets better on its own over the course of around four to ten weeks. You say you first noticed skin marks a year ago, but I'm unsure if there was a period in between where it cleared. This could be a second episode of it. If this sounds likely, it will resolve on its own and a mild steroid cream can alleviate any discomfort if there is any. If you do not think it is this, then you need a consultation with a GP. Sun Health Explainer: Skin rashes - eczema, psoriasis, sepsis TIP: As we enjoy the summer, try to refrain from wearing sandals and flip-flops too often. Their lack of support can lead to calluses, corns and issues like plantar fasciitis, which causes heel pain.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I can't shift pink marks on my skin – they keep popping up but I can't get a GP appointment
OUR resident specialist and NHS GP, Dr Zoe Williams, shares her expert advice. Today, Dr Zoe helps a reader who has noticed marks on their skin. 2 Q) I HAVE some skin marks that I first noticed last year. I tried to see my doctor but could only get a phone consultation which, as you can imagine, was useless. They wanted me to email a picture, but I couldn't access the site. I've used a steroid cream, which I had for a different issue, and found it makes the marks go, but after a while, more appear elsewhere. They aren't sore or itchy, but this is really getting me down. Can you help? A) Thank you for sending the images of the rash, which appear to show oval salmon-pink-coloured patches on your torso. While seeing images of skin is helpful, we doctors usually need to get a history from the patient in order to make a diagnosis. I would like to know if, prior to the rash appearing, there was a single larger patch that came up first. If this was the case, then that would likely be the herald patch – a sign of the harmless skin condition pityriasis rosea. It usually gets better on its own over the course of around four to ten weeks. You say you first noticed skin marks a year ago, but I'm unsure if there was a period in between where it cleared. This could be a second episode of it. If this sounds likely, it will resolve on its own and a mild steroid cream can alleviate any discomfort if there is any. If you do not think it is this, then you need a consultation with a GP. TIP: As we enjoy the summer, try to refrain from wearing sandals and flip-flops too often. Their lack of support can lead to calluses, corns and issues like plantar fasciitis, which causes heel pain.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Breast transplanted to replace cancerous one in 'world first' operation
Five months into a pregnancy for a much wanted second child in 2024, Nicola Purdie found a lump in her right is a nightmare scenario for anyone. But for Nicola this was not a new had already had a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and breast reconstruction after being diagnosed with cancer in a radical idea which she suggested to her surgeon has led to what is believed to be a pioneering world first procedure - transplanting a healthy reconstructed breast to replace a cancerous one. In September 2020, Nicola had just finished with breastfeeding her first child and was returning to work as a geography teacher in her home town of Swansea when she found a October it was diagnosed as cancer and she started five months of chemotherapy at Singleton Hospital, followed by the double now 38, said: "Even though I only had cancer in the one breast, my maternal aunty and maternal grandmother also had had breast cancer previously. I thought 'I'm young, let's just get rid of everything and do as much as we can'."She had reconstructive surgery using skin and tissue from her abdomen in a procedure known as a DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap. "It meant I had natural breasts which would grow and shrink with my bodyweight over time and I wouldn't need implants that would need changing in 10 or 15 years," she the cancer was oestrogen-fuelled, she was placed on hormone suppression therapy for at least two years. 'This is not a coincidence. This is cancer' "We knew at the time I was diagnosed that we wanted to have another baby eventually, so we waited for two-and-a-half years actually."All the oncologists we saw were of the same opinion that I was at no increased risk, because I'd had a complete pathological response [no sign of cancer post-treatment]."Then lump number two appeared. Nicola explained: "This time it was in the skin of the breast because that was the only tissue that was remaining really from the first surgery. There must have been some cancer cells there."I knew straight away as soon as I found the lump, this is not a coincidence. This is cancer again." Apart from family and a close friend, Nicola did not tell anyone about the cancer this time. Partly it was to shield her daughter from knowing but she had another reason."I wanted to protect the baby. I wanted him to come into the world and it to be all about him. I didn't want it to be focusing on 'oh gosh Nicky, you OK?'."She attributes this mindset to helping her "shut the door" on thinking about it until her son was of pregnancy, she could not begin chemotherapy, or have the usual scans to establish if the cancer had had some chest X-rays and an ultrasound of her stomach and liver, which gave a degree of certainty, although not "100%", that it remained contained in the breast. She also had a lumpectomy to remove the lump from the breast skin. The plan was to deliver the baby at 32 weeks, at the end of August, but even in the midst of the urgency for treatment, she had an eye to her son's future."I think it was 26 August and I said 'can I put my teacher's hat on now and push it to the week after'. "My husband was like 'what?' But I said 'I've got to give him the best chance'. "So we waited until the first Monday in September and he was born at 32 weeks and six days."Fraser was in the neonatal unit for three weeks. "He went from strength to strength and that made things easier as well because of what I was dealing with. "I don't know how I would have been if he was poorly as well."Nicola started chemotherapy two weeks after giving birth and would go from the baby unit upstairs to have her treatment and then straight back down to her had 16 rounds of chemo which took her all the way through to the beginning of February. Initially the oncology team had not been sure what operation to suggest as Nicola had multiple cancer sites in the right breast area and a tumour in one lymph node. The most likely option was removal and an LD (latissimus dorsi) flap, which involves swinging a muscle and skin from the back to cover the area left behind by the removed breast, but leaving the area flat in her using an implant on the right side instead would not have been possible as so much skin had to be removed, there would not be enough to cover it, or to withstand damage from subsequent radiation Nicola's aunt had had the LD flap operation and she knew it came with an arduous recovery process and possibly reduced range of movement - not an option for her as the mother of two small also knew she wanted "symmetry" - either two breasts or was while talking to her sisters she initially had the idea that, if she did end up having both breasts removed, why not use the skin from the healthy left breast to cover the larger affected area on the it was only once she was in the consulting room with consultant plastic, reconstructive and breast surgeon Reza Arya, that the idea of moving the whole breast intact dawned. She realised it would allow her to create a right breast and have reconstructive surgery on the left side using an implant because there was enough skin left in situ from the first operation in she put this to Reza - "could we rob Peter to pay Paul?" - she "could literally see the cogs whirring" in his recalled being speechless at the idea. "I had never seen or heard of such a procedure being talked about or published. "I wasn't even sure at that stage whether I would be adding to Nicola's care or taking away from it."Reza said it was very unusual to have a patient come up with such a radical idea."Kudos to Nicola because she's amazing. "I had extensive discussions with colleagues all over the UK who are all experts in flap reconstruction from the abdomen. The conclusion was maybe it is possible and just go ahead with it."This is not run of the mill mastectomy we're talking about," he said. "We're removing the whole of the footprint of the breast [on the right]. It is a very, very large area of skin and to be able to close it you have to borrow from somewhere, some skin and tissue, that can withstand future radiotherapy."Left is a side that's easy to reconstruct in future, because it's not subject to radiotherapy and all other treatments, and the cancer itself." When Nicola went into the surgery, she knew she could wake up to very different outcomes - a successful left to right transplant, or an LD flap reconstruction on her right side after all if he decided the transfer would not work, with the left breast removed anyway at her gave Reza her blessing for any outcome. And her outrageous gamble paid off."What makes it a world first is that the tissue has been ported to two different sites," she said. "We didn't know if that would be possible or probable, the microsurgery of actually sewing the vessels together - if it would work or if it would be so scarred that it would be completely impossible."She is starting a few weeks of radiotherapy, and around Christmas time will have reconstructive surgery on the left side using a saline implant. She will be on hormone therapy for the next 10 years to manage the risks of recurrence but has been given the all-clear in terms of this treatment someone who has been through such gruelling experiences, she is remarkably upbeat. How does she stay positive?"If I am having those moments when I feel 'oh my god this is awful, why has this happened to us?' "I let myself think about it for a minute and then move on to the next thing. If you don't allow yourself to think about it, it won't get you down."I have to sit back and think 'this is life. Worse things can happen'. I'm lucky that I've had incredible treatment from the word go, and an amazing team who I trust."She added: "Both the kids were just the best distraction ever. It's hope isn't it? When you see little children. You think there's hope for the future."
