Michelle Cooke

I qualified as a midwife in 2003 and started my career at St Richards Hospital in Chichester.  Over the last 20 years I have continued my professional development and became a labour ward coordinator in 2014.  I have since been involved in several secondment opportunities; these include practice development, fetal wellbeing and the better birth lead midwife for the trust.  These most recent roles have all focused around safety; to ensure that the best possible care is offered to women and people and their families at the right time, with the right individuals, in the right environment.  To not only achieve the best outcomes but allow the whole experience to be positive for all involved.  Instead of my individual clinical ability to ensure safety, these roles have been driven around the systems and processes put in place to ensure safety as a whole.  This has allowed me more recently to be involved in audit, change process, quality improvement and report writing, to support families and local and national agendas.  This is where my passion lies and for the last 2 years I have been working as the patient safety midwife as my current role.

I am married and have 2 boys, aged 14 and 11 so life is always busy and never dull.  Especially when adding our 2 year old Japanese Akita, Bear into the mix!