Our Family Services department is committed to improving outcomes for women and babies by improving care, diagnosis and treatment – which is why we work with selected research programmes, carried out by healthcare professionals striving to make improvements to your care.
If you are interested in volunteering for any of these studies, details of how to contact the team can be found in the links below:
Born and Bred in (BaBi) Northern Lincolnshire
BaBi Northern Lincolnshire is part of a wider project to learn more about how families and children can live happier, healthier lives.
If you’re booked in for maternity care at one of our hospitals in Grimsby, Scunthorpe, or Goole, one our midwives will invite you to become part of the study during one of your routine antenatal appointments.
If you’re happy to be involved, health researchers will use data and information collected from you about your family to help find ways of improving healthcare and services in our area and beyond.
Find out more about Born and Bred In (BaBi) Northern Lincolnshire.
Meet the team
Kathy Dent – Lead Research Nurse at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust and Principal Investigator for Born & Bred in (BaBi) Northern Lincolnshire.
Kathy started her Adult Nurse training in 1984 at Barnsley District Hospital, just before her 18th birthday. When she qualified in 1986, she initially practiced on a busy mixed Orthopaedic ward. Ten years later, she qualified again as a Registered General Nurse, relocating back to Scunthorpe where she married, had her son and secured a job in Scunthorpe outpatients.
Kathy’s interest in Research developed during her time working for a Consultant Surgeon, which later led her to obtaining a role in the Clinical Effectiveness Department. Over her career, Kathy has expanded her area of expertise from Surgical to Oncology. She describes Oncology as her passion due to the prospect of potentially giving people a few more months with their families.
In 2014 Kathy took on a new role leading the Oncology team, and subsequently the wider team, working hard to put research at the forefront of the hospital.
Moving forward, Kathy has high hopes for BaBi Northern Lincolnshire. She is excited that the data collected on children and their families will impact how Councils and the Government fund deprived areas and that this new wealth of knowledge will educate future generations to nurture happier, healthier lives.
Lindsay Bennett – Research Midwife at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust and NIHR Reproductive Health and Childbirth Associate Research Champion for Yorkshire and Humber.
Lindsay qualified as an Adult Nurse in 2005, she practiced for one year on a Surgical ward, but later requalified as a Midwife in 2007.
Lindsay began her midwifery journey as a Team Midwife, later moving onto Labour ward and then
Antenatal Clinic. In 2019 Lindsay secured a secondment as Bereavement Midwife for a period of one year, before she returned to Community Midwifery.
As Lindsay’s career flourished, so did her interest in research. Moreover, Lindsay practiced as a Clinical Midwife, taking cord samples for an Obstetric cholestasis study, worked alongside the Perinatal Institute as a SaBiNE Midwife, and contributed to the Big Baby trial.
Despite her breadth of expertise, Lindsay remained mindful of gaps in the evidence base. In April 2023 Lindsay became the Trust’s first Research Midwife, profoundly increasing research capacity
within Reproductive Health and Childbirth Studies.
Looking to the future, Lindsay believes BaBi Northern Lincolnshire has huge potential to improve the lives of her current and future community within Northern Lincolnshire, a place she has invested her own personal and professional roots. The scale and scope of the study is the largest our trust has seen and she feels it will generate conversations with important stakeholders who share the same goal, to cultivate happier, healthier lives.
Are you pregnant with twins?
The University of Edinburgh is looking for volunteers who are having twins and may have a planned birth at around 35 weeks.
The trial aims to find out if antenatal corticosteroids given to those having twins prior to a planned birth after 35 weeks, reduces breathing difficulties in the babies.
If you would like some more information on this study, or to see if you are eligible to take part, please contact a member of the clinical research team, or visit the study’s website.
Snap 2 – smoking, nicotine and pregnancy trial
The University of Nottingham is testing a new support package to help you stop smoking during pregnancy, using Nicotine Replacement Therapy.
They are looking for participants who are less than 25 weeks pregnant, aged 16 or over, who smoke at least one cigarette a day.
If you take part, you would need to:
- Try stopping smoking
- accept stop smoking support, including free Nicotine Replacement Therapy, which is approved by the NHS for use during pregnancy.
What helps to keep babies safe during pregnancy?
We’re taking part in the MiNeSS 20-28 research study to find better ways to help prevent early stillbirth.
You may be invited to take part in a one-minute interview with a research midwife during your pregnancy.
To find out more, watch this video on YouTube or contact a member of the clinical research team.
