Whipps Cross Year of the Nurse and Midwife people stories - Kenny Ayeni-Yegbe
For February’s Year of the Nurse and Midwife feature, we spoke to Kenny Ayeni-Yegbe, Interim Senior Midwifery Manager about her day to day role, her proudest achievements and her advice for anyone thinking of a career in midwifery.
Kenny has worked at Whipps Cross Hospital since February 2003 and she has experience caring for antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal patients. She worked for over ten years as a labour ward coordinator and previously worked as an interim senior midwifery manager for labour ward, triage and obstetrics theatre. She is an appointed supervisor of midwives and is presently a Barts Health Professional Midwifery Advocate.
On a typical day:
I start my day by checking my diary and planning ahead for the day. I will check staffing numbers across the community and across our Lilac Birth Centre. I will also check that our post-natal visits are covered and also any bookings we have. I will check that we have safe staffing levels across all of these areas. I attend a lot of meetings and disseminate information from these to staff which often includes service improvement information. Operational management is a big part of my role and I also deal with our case loading teams in the community. We have a national Better Births initiative which ensures continuity of care and carer, which I make sure we work to, meaning that the patient will always receive personalised care that’s tailored to their specific needs.
I also deal with monitoring and reporting of incidents and I feedback the learning that can be taken from these. I respond to any verbal and formal complaints and I embed the learning from these as part of the feedback I give to staff.
I believe in giving high quality care to patients and I ensure that women and babies receive the right care at the right time in the right place. I always strive to be a visible leader and will complete ‘back to the floor’ regularly where I will work in the clinics. This helps me to know how I can best support my staff and ultimately support patients. I champion good practice and support my staff wherever I can.
What are your proudest achievements as a midwife?
Myself, other senior managers and team leaders are working to restructure the care that’s provided in the community so that we can work more efficiently and provide better care for our patients. I am proud of this work although it is still in its infancy and expect that it will transform the healthcare that we provide.
I am also proud of the good feedback I receive from patients about their care. One particular case stood out to me where the patient had a sad outcome, but she still sent me a thank you card because she knew that we had done everything we could for her and she was grateful for the care I gave her.
What would you say to anyone considering a career in midwifery?
You have to be caring and want to care for people. You have to be passionate as it is hard work, but you also can’t compare this job to any other when you consider the satisfaction you get from knowing that you have helped someone safely deliver their baby. It’s a tough job but the rewards mean that it’s worth it.