What are Maternity & Neonatal Voices?

Maternity & Neonatal Voices is an initiative that aims to involve women and their families in the development of local maternity services. We want Dorset’s maternity service to be the best it can be, which means that it must meet the needs of those using the service. Women and their partners must be shown that their voices and experiences matter.

Dorset’s Maternity & Neonatal Voices Lead Representative is Rachel Filmer. She goes out into the community to speak to women and their partners about their experiences of maternity care in Dorset. She then represents that feedback in meetings with clinical and organisational staff, in an attempt to constantly improve the service and address any reported issues. She is also involved in specific pieces of work, such as the development of this website and the design of care pathways.

Please complete this short form to send us your feedback, which will be shared anonymously with the relevant teams.

Maternity & Neonatal Voices Representatives

Rachel Filmer
Rachel Filmer
Rachel lives in Poole with her husband and their twin boys. After a long NICU stay with her twins, she has a special interest in support for parents of premature babies and those with additional needs, but is passionate about equal access to high quality maternity services for all Dorset residents.
Marianne Scott
Marianne ScottChair for University Hospitals Dorset
Marianne lives in East Dorset with her husband, two young children, and two dogs. She has interests in antenatal care (particularly in preterm birth prevention), infant feeding, and safeguarding. Marianne is looking forward to meeting and working with maternity service users across Dorset to improve services across the country.
Kelly Hickson
Kelly HicksonMVP Chair for Dorset County Hospital
Kelly lives in Weymouth with her partner and their baby boy. After becoming a parent for the first time in April 2021, Kelly has become even more passionate about wanting to continue to support high quality maternity services within Dorset and equal access for all. As well as wanting to listen and support those accessing maternity services themselves, she also wants to ensure that support is available for partners and families.
  • We hold regular stakeholder events where you can learn about changes to the service and get involved in decisions about the future of maternity care in Dorset
  • If you would like to give feedback to your local maternity voices lead representative, or get involved in future events or gathering feedback, you can contact Rachel at maternityvoicesdorset@gmail.com
  • Tell us about your views of local maternity services on our Facebook page and engage with view seeking activities or surveys
  • Keep an eye on this page for any current online surveys to complete about any recent experiences you have had using local maternity services
  • We may also attend existing local groups to engage and hear your stories and experiences
  • Focus groups will be advertised when we are looking to reshape or change services so the voice of parent’s and families co-design services. These will be advertised on our Facebook page and Facebook group or via email
  • This online survey enables Dorset Maternity & Neonatal Voices to catch anonymous feedback from service users experience as they access local maternity care. Please note this is not a formal complaint procedure and if you wish to make a formal complaint please go back to your care provider

Would you like to volunteer as a service user representative, to ensure that we reach as many families as possible?

If so, please contact: maternityvoicesdorset@gmail.com