A midwife who has developed and delivered education and care programmes in Scotland and Vietnam has received a prestigious Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Fellowship.
Thomas McEwan – who lives in Paisley – is Head of Programme for the Women’s, Children, Young People and Families Team at NHS Education for Scotland steering midwifery and maternity education and services in Scotland. He received his RCM Fellowship at the RCM’s Education and Research Conference in Birmingham yesterday.
Thomas said: “It is a great personal and professional honour to be awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Midwives. Although it recognises the contributions I have made to midwifery, maternity and neonatal care throughout my career, none of this would have been possible without the support of my family, friends or colleagues, as well as the opportunities to support women, parents, babies and their families throughout my very privileged career as a midwife.”
Thomas’s career over 25 years has seen him move from work as a frontline midwife via working as a senior charge midwife within a neonatal unit, and as an advanced neonatal nurse practitioner. His current national role has an important part to play in steering midwifery and maternity education and services in Scotland.
There are many other strings to Thomas’s midwifery bow. He has published many academic articles and contributed to midwifery textbooks, is a board member for the Scottish Cot Death Trust, and a Consultant Editor for the British Journal of Midwifery. Thomas’s career also has international aspects to it through teaching neonatal nurses in Vietnam, and his internationally recognised guidance on new-born skin care.
Rebeccah Davies, President of the RCM, said: “I am always taken aback when I see just how much our Fellows have packed into their career and how important their contributions have been. Thomas epitomises this, and his contributions to midwifery in Scotland, the UK, and globally have been significant.
“He has been a true midwifery leader at every stage of his career, and I congratulate him on this well-deserved honour and recognition. The RCM is delighted to be able to put his work and achievements in the spotlight where they rightly belong.”