Janet Fyle

Janet Fyle is a Midwife and Professional Policy Adviser at the Royal College of Midwives.

"I am a registered midwife and the Professional Policy Adviser at the Royal College of Midwives(RCM). My role involves providing midwifery advice to the RCM and our midwife members, and looking at how local and national policies affect women, their families and midwives.

"One of the issues that the RCM has been engaged with recently is advising our members on the safety,quality and legal implications of collecting cord blood. The HTA helps me tailor the advice about its policies and regulations. I see the HTA as a point of reference that enables me to speak with authority when giving advice on cord blood collection. For example, I can inform midwives there is a body that regulates cord blood collection and I can always say: “This is what the HTA says.” And that in itself carries weight.

"In the last year, the HTA’s communication with midwives has been very good. The website is extremely useful and the information is in a digestible format. We know that midwives are very busy people and we can say to them: “Just click here to find the most up-to-date information on policies or regulations in this area…” It saves people having to explain these issues secondhand.

"I am also impressed that the HTA is willing to engage in open discussions with people it regulates and make improvements as a result. At one of the HTA’s annual meetings, I had the opportunity to speak to staff and Authority Members about issues I thought were important, not only to midwives, but to members of the public. They did take notice of my comments...In effect...they listened."