Mary Newburn
Head
of Policy Research for the National Childbirth Trust
A letter from Mary about Home
Birth Choices
was published in The Independent in August
Mary has been with the National
Childbirth Trust since her first two boys were born in
Cumbria in the 1970s. She now has four children, aged
twenty-two, twenty-one, eight and six.
After reading sociology at the London School of Economics she carried out research at Essex University and at the Home Office Research and Planning Unit on lone parent families and step-families.
| "I admire
Mary for her steadfast commitment to the NCT, her
ability to reconcile divergent view points and to
build bridges and her respect for and grounding
in evidence-based research." Sheila |
Mary has been a member of staff at the NCT for eleven years, at the national office in London. The policy research department at the NCT is involved in all aspects of maternity care. This includes work to implement the recommendations of Changing Childbirth for woman-centred care and to highlight the public health implications of maternity care policies and practice, as well as developing multi-disciplinary guidelines on testing and treatment of healthy, term newborns for low blood glucose; and offering training and support to user representatives on maternity services committees researching women's understanding and use of research-based information.
