I am delighted to be offered this exciting new role working with the Chief Midwifery Officer’s team in NHS England and NHS Improvement. This is an unprecedented opportunity to work with the team, universities, the NIHR, the midwifery profession and other stakeholders to contribute to national policy, strategy and service delivery. I look forward to enhancing leadership and academic capacity for research in midwifery and strengthening the profession’s contribution to evidence-informed transformational change.
Professor Jane Sandall, School of Life Course Sciences
03 March 2021
Professor Jane Sandall appointed first-ever Head of Midwifery Research at NHS England
Professor Jane Sandall CBE has been seconded to design and lead the midwifery research strategy for NHS England and Improvement on behalf of the Chief Midwifery Officer for England.
Jane Sandall is a Professor of Social Science & Women’s Health at King’s, where she leads the Maternal Health Policy, Systems & Implementation Research Group. Her research draws on the clinical and social sciences and focuses on implementation and impact of safety and quality strategies at a system and frontline level.
Professor Sandall also works as a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator for South London, as well as at Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement.
In her new role, Professor Sandall will focus on health inequalities linked with maternity outcomes for families of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
In recent months, calls have been made for urgent action to ensure maternity care is safer for BAME women. Concerns have also been raised throughout the COVID-19 pandemic around the volume of pregnant women admitted to hospital in the UK with the virus who are from an ethnic minority background.
Professor Sandall joined NHS England and NHS Improvement on 1 February 2021.
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Professor of Social Science and Women's Health