As well as working as the Lead Fetal Medicine/Screening Midwife for NHS Lanarkshire and Chairing the Scottish Fetal Network Midwives, I am a bereaved mum. I am a carrier of a rare genetic condition and my first child Scot died at age 7 months from Wernig Hoffmans Syndrome (SMA Type 1) in 1991.

I work closely with sonographers, sub-specialist fetal medicine consultants, clinical genetics and screening laboratories. My team contributes to teaching sessions for new doctors, community midwives and hospital-based midwives. We signpost all staff to ARC when we provide these sessions to encourage professional development and to ensure staff know how to support families experiencing difficult decisions about their pregnancy.

ARC has been a valuable resource for myself and the team for many years – to help us increase our working knowledge and continue to provide quality, empathetic and compassionate care to families.

The multiple family-orientated resources that ARC provides means we as professionals can signpost families at each stage of their pregnancy journey, to get the crucial support they need at a time they feel ‘confused’ ‘ isolated’ and ‘alone in their grief’. The parents’ stories provide a sense of ‘community’ which families have told us helps them feel less isolated, with feedback such as: ‘It helps to know we are not alone’ and ‘It is difficult talking to friends and family’.

The annual ARC conferences for professionals online and face-to-face are not to be missed. They not only provide an opportunity for networking and learning from other specialities, but in my experience intrinsically improved my personal knowledge and understanding by hearing from a variety of motivational and inspirational guest speakers.

Karen McIntosh, ARC’s Coordinator for Scotland, is also a great resource for professionals in Scotland as she has a wealth of knowledge and is happy to personally provide training sessions for all maternity staff. Karen has recently helped us facilitate a new network for specialist midwives working within fetal medicine and screening in Scotland. The group is for active midwives, of which there are currently 23 nationally. This network has been endorsed by Jaki Lambert (RCM Director for Scotland )who has invited us to join the national SMiLE (strategic midwifery leadership/specialist midwives) network in Edinburgh which is clinically governed. The purpose of the group is to ultimately improve and standardise care pathways and individualised care for vulnerable families using our service.

ARC supports professionals to support families and we are thankful for the resources and opportunities offered by this excellent charity.