Midwife Wendy retires after 33 years

A NEW midwife at Burnley General Hospital’s birthing unit is stepping into the shoes of another who has delivered thousands of babies in her career.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has bid farwell to Wendy Anderson (55) from Brierfield who retires on International Midwives Day after 33 years at Burnley General Hospital.

The Trust will be celebrating this awareness day with exhibitions at all three Birth Centres in Rossendale, Burnley and Blackburn.

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Wendy said: “I’ve been involved in the delivery of thousands of babies over the years and I can’t think of anything better than seeing the happiness on the parents’ faces when their babies are born.

“There have been significant changes to maternity services throughout my career. I remember having to carry all the heavy equipment needed for home births compared to now where all the kit is delivered to the home of the expectant mothers.”

Meanwhile, Rebecca Roberts (23) from Burnley, is just starting out at the Burnley General Hospital Birth Centre.

She said: “Having had my own baby at the Burnley Birth Centre, I have the perspective of a patient and staff member.

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“ I enjoy my job as a midwife greatly and although I’m still new, I’ve already delivered 82 babies.”

Anita Fleming, head of Midwifery, Quality and Safety at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our staff work extremely hard and provide excellent standards of nursing and midwifery care for our patients, mothers and their babies.

“Being a midwife is a challenging but very rewarding role. Midwives make a difference – they not only birth babies, but provide ante-natal care, education, information, social support, breast feeding and parenting advice and are always at the end of the phone for expectant mothers.”

Since the opening of the three new centres, up until March, the Trust has delivered 2,540 babies.