Community

Patrons of Pregnancy Sickness Support

Baroness Julia Cumberlege CBE was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health from 1992 to 1997. She founded Cumberlege Connections Ltd in 2003 and Cumberlege Eden and Partners in 2013. Both Companies specialise in training and consultancy to the health sector.  Julia started her career in Local Government, as Leader of the Lewes District Council and Chair of Social Services for East Sussex.  She has served on many public bodies and has produced two reports for the Government. She is an Honorary Fellow of five Royal Colleges and has Honorary Degrees from five universities. 

Baroness Cumberlege is currently Chair of the National Maternity Review and has a wealth of experience in healthcare leadership. She has chaired working parties for the Royal College of Physicians – which led to the ‘Doctors in Society’ (2005) and ‘Future Physicians: Changing Doctors in a Changing World’ (2010) reports. She is a Patron of the National Childbirth Trust and Vice President of the Royal College of Midwives. In the 1990s she also led a major review on maternity care, producing the ‘Changing Childbirth’ report for the Department of Health.  

 

Dr Tony Barnie-Adshead (Founding Trustee) is a retired GP in Nuneaton. He has shared research into various aspects of pregnancy sickness and hyperemesis since the mid 1960's. His interest started when a lady with severe symptoms said that it had been such a bad experience that she didn't want to contemplate having another pregnancy and didn't medical science know what was causing it? He has spent the last 45 years researching the answer to that question. Following his wishes to retire as Trustee Tony has been made Patron.

  

Charity Ambassadors

 Michelle Owen - Sky Sports broadcaster

During my pregnancy I suffered from HG and felt so alone until I found PSS. They helped me with a Peer Supporter and were so useful with medical information. It was the worst time of my life in what should have been the happiest. Somehow we got through and have a beautiful baby boy but not everyone is so fortunate, HG is a killer that’s the truth. I want to help women suffering right now who feel isolated, awful and helpless and also raise awareness. The amount of times I got told it was morning sickness was infuriating, we need the world to understand what a horrendous disease this is.”

Michelle will be working with the Pregnancy Sickness Support team to help raise awareness.

 

Partnerships

Pregnancy Sickness Support recognises the need for inter-organisational working to further the agenda for pregnant women suffering nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and hyperemesis gravidarum. Since our inception we have worked hard to establish good relationships with a number of professional bodies, other charities and organisations with mutual aims. Here are some of the organisations we are proud to partner with.

The Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation is our sister organisation in America. Working to further research and education into the extreme end of the NVP spectrum we collaborate particularly on coordinating international support for sufferers.

The Motherisk program in Canada is driving forward research in mother-child and pregnancy health matters. They provide information and support to women via a helpline.

The Pregnancy & Medicine Initiative is an independent, nonprofit organization that aims to raise awareness and help address the information vacuum concerning the use of medicines and medical treatment in pregnancy. They serve as an enabler, by connecting individuals, groups, and initiatives across the field of healthcare. They aim to bring this issue to the top of the healthcare agenda and facilitate the conversation around regulation, ethics, research and care.

Birmingham Women's Hospital is paving the way in excellent hyperemesis care in the UK. Their IV day unit sets a high standard which we hope one day to see across the UK. Consultant Miss Manjeet Shehmar sits on our Medical Advisory Board and works with us to further the research and service development aspects of the charity.

Nottingham University Hospital have partnered with us via their Better for You project in order to improve hyperemesis care across the county. Together we are establishing an IV day unit at the Queen's Medical Centre site as well as implementing a Primary Care treatment guideline for GP's in the county. There is a longer term ambition to establish an IV at Home service for the more rural areas of the county and support in the area will be coordinated effort between the charity and the hospitals.

Thanks go to NUH for the sample GP and Hospital guidelines on this website.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) is the UK's leading independent reproductive healthcare provider. bpas supports reproductive choice by providing contraception and abortion services, primarily on behalf of the NHS. We are collaborating with them to ensure women suffering hyperemesis gravidarum have received full access to treatments, information and support before opting to end an otherwise wanted pregnancy.

Pregnancy & Baby Charities Network

Pregnancy Sickness Support is a member of the Pregnancy & Baby Charities Network and works alongside other charities.

The Network represents UK charities whose focus includes one or more of the following:

• to reduce the number of babies who die during pregnancy, birth or in the early weeks of life;
• to reduce morbidity in newborn babies and improve care for these babies and their parents;
• to improve care throughout the path to parenthood: before, during and after pregnancy and after losing a baby or pregnancy.

The PBCN is governed by agreed Terms of Reference.

Read their Manifesto 2019 setting out key priorities

Expanded Manifesto with added background information