Journal Page

What’s going on in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By, the AIMS Campaigns Team Scotland Maternity & Midwifery Festival 26th November 2024 This online event was a good o…   Read more…

Why grandmothers deserve education and support – they are worth it!

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By Mary Nolan Quite a long time ago, I was at a lecture given by a senior obstetrician whom I had worked under as a s…   Read more…

An interview with Sarah Odling Smee

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 Interview by Leslie Altic What first attracted you to being a midwife, tell us a bit about your journey and how you g…   Read more…

Reflections on becoming a grandmother

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By Petra Wood My first grandson will be three years old next month. My son and my daughter-in-law decided to marry wh…   Read more…

Silencing the grandmothers? Not AIMS!

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By Alex Smith Welcome to the March 2025 edition of the AIMS journal. This issue is about grandparents, and about gran…   Read more…

What has the AIMS Campaigns Team been up to this quarter?

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 Written outputs: Presentation for All Volunteers Meeting workshop on NHS Change: www.aims.org.uk/campaigning/item/cha…   Read more…

The vital role of grandmothers in the perinatal period: A personal journey of connection and care

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By Ruksana Beigi A Grandmother's Embrace In softest whispers, she awaits, A tender heart that gently waits. Through s…   Read more…

Birth trauma: When birth feels like rape

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 Image source By Jacqueline Edwards I’m lying on the bed, legs spread wide, bright lights shining on my genitals while…   Read more…

Birth Activists Briefing: The latest UK Maternity Statistics: where to find them and what they can tell you

Vol. 37, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By the AIMS Campaigns Team In this article we will summarise some of the key points of data about the maternity servi…   Read more…

A conversation with Karrie whose little boy is deaf

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Interview by Alex Smith Hello Karrie, thank you for agreeing to share your experience with us. Many congratulations o…   Read more…

A child is born into the world and their world is in silence

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Image source By a hearing mother of a deaf baby I can share with you my experience as a hearing mother of a child who…   Read more…

Hearing impaired and giving birth during the pandemic

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Helen Jones-Grace I was pregnant during the first lockdown and gave birth during the second lockdown in February 2…   Read more…

History and politics of deafness

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Meghan Luton Introduction Deafness, defined as a partial or total inability to perceive or understand sound, curre…   Read more…

Why can’t we just give deaf people a leaflet?

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Alex Smith For both hearing and deaf people alike, written information (about maternity care, for example) is a on…   Read more…

A Pamphlet of Possibilities

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Bine Browne The Association of Radical Midwives (ARM) was formed almost fifty years ago in response to the increas…   Read more…

AIMS attends the NHS Confed Expo 2024

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Jo Dagustun In this piece, one of our Campaigns Team volunteers illustrates how attending conferences such as the…   Read more…

Support for deaf and deafblind women in the maternity setting

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 My personal view on the provision of communication support for deaf and deafblind women in the maternity setting. By…   Read more…

The BSL Birth Certificate

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Tom, and his and Paula’s daughter, Hazel (sign name ‘big smile’) By Salli Ward When Tom Lichy and his partner Paula G…   Read more…

Welcome to the Deaf Community – a lesson in miscommunication to new (hearing) parents

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Image source By a hearing mother of a deaf baby Sat in the hospital ward, I snapped a cute picture on my phone of my…   Read more…

Pregnancy and hearing: Did you know?

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Image source By Alex Smith Did you know that one in three pregnant women develop tinnitus compared with one in ten wh…   Read more…

Birth Activists Briefing: Maternal Mental Health Service Progress Report

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By the AIMS Campaigns Team The NHS England Long Term Plan published in 2019 called for the establishment of ‘maternit…   Read more…

AIMS Physiology-Informed Maternity Services (PIMS) - December 2024

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Update by Catharine Hart Microbirth Summit: The Microbiome and Why it Matters in Maternity In this piece Catharine Ha…   Read more…

AIMS urges action as newly released analysis demonstrates better care when ‘full pathway continuity of carer’ is in place

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 With new real-world evidence showing the positive difference it makes, AIMS calls for a full pathway ‘continuity of c…   Read more…

How does midwife continuity of care compare with other models of care?

Vol. 36, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Catharine Hart In this report, Catharine Hart of the AIMS Campaigns Team, tells us about a recent Cochrane study t…   Read more…

Latest Content

Journal

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Disrupting breastfeeding confidence…

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 3 By Alex Smith An increasing number of new mothers begin breastfeeding following a long drawn-out process of induction of labour. Currentl…

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Editorial: Thinking about breastfee…

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 3 Welcome to the September 2025 issue of the AIMS journal. The theme for this quarter is breastfeeding. An important issue that emerged as…

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A Conversation with Kate Evans, aut…

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 3 Interview by Catharine Hart Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed by AIMS, Kate. I love that this book doesn't try to sound authoritat…

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Events

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Scotland Maternity and Midwifery Fe…

Nine events across the UK and Ireland – all of them free of charge to all practising midwives, academics, allied healthcare professionals and student midwives. The profes…

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National Maternity Safety Conferenc…

The National Maternity Safety Conference is back! This year’s event will take place at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham on 25th September 2025 . Building on the success…

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AIMS Workshop: Building Allies

AIMS is delighted to be hosting a series of Tools for Change campaigning workshops to be led by Ruth Weston. Ruth's journey of Birth Activism and Maternity Service Campai…

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Latest Campaigns

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AIMS Letter to Wes Streeting to wel…

AIMS has written to Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to welcome his announcement of a National Maternity Review, offer our support for the…

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AIMS review of the Big Baby trial

Introduction There has long been uncertainty over whether there is any benefit to early induction of labour when a baby is suspected to be ‘big’, known as ‘Large for Gest…

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AIMS Letter to Professor Mary Renfr…

AIMS has written to Professor Mary Renfrew to thank her for taking the lead on reviewing maternity services in Northern Ireland. Her report is the first of its kind to ta…

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