Lauren Flett 

“I always wanted to be a midwife and I also knew that I wanted to come back home to the community in Orkney to work.”

“I really feel I work in the community in its purest form as I am serving the community where I was born and brought up – I have delivered babies of some of my closest friends.”

“I realised early in my career that I was on a path of life-long learning, and I am passionate and committed to making a difference within our team and community.”

“In my 10 years as an integrated midwife within NHS Orkney, I have seized every opportunity available to assist in the improvement of the care provided to women and their families as well as having a positive effect on the overall service.”

“There is a lot of on-call work in a remote and rural job – there are less people to call on in an emergency, and you will find yourself spending time away from home because you have to go and help your other family, your work family.”

“You have to be forward-thinking when you are on island, to be one step ahead of the game thinking about what could happen. It is also about keeping your clinical skills completely up-to-date and refreshing your skills in emergency situations.”

“I work within a multi-disciplinary team providing high quality care to all women with high and low risk pregnancies. It involves drawing on many complex clinical skills and assessment dependent on individual needs – medial, physical, emotional and social.”

“Our role as midwives within NHS Orkney continually develops to meet the needs of an evolving service. I just graduated a few months ago as a sonographer and it was one of the hardest things, I have ever had to do but the positive impact on the women makes it so rewarding. I am already thinking of what else I can do, always looking to innovate to make life better for pregnant women and their families in the community.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started the programme, and I didn’t really know it was going to focus so much on my growth and development.”

“The coaching sessions have been fabulous, I really enjoyed them. In nursing and midwifery, I think we are so focused on the job and the people we care for that we are probably the worst at focusing on ourselves.”

“The QN programme has taught me that for me to look after people well, I have to look after myself. That’s been a big thing for me.”