Mimosa
Midwives
Mimosa Midwives is a collective of experienced midwives providing continuity-of-care that complements and strengthens NHS maternity services.
We are actively seeking to work with NHS trusts
About the Mimosa Midwives
We are team of senior midwives with backgrounds across community, hospital, public health, research, education, and advocacy. All practice is aligned with the NMC Code, NICE guidance, and NHS pathways.
What We Provide
- Continuity-based antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care
- Homebirth support, including risk assessment, planning, and collaborative escalation
- Antenatal education and birth preparation
- Breastfeeding and early parenting support
- Flexible community visits to increase access and engagement
- Culturally safe, equity-focused care, supporting families who experience barriers
- Clear communication and referrals, working within existing NHS systems
Why Commission Mimosa Midwives
Improved Outcomes
Continuity-of-care is linked to reduced intervention rates, fewer preterm births, higher satisfaction, and better safety outcomes. Mimosa Midwives delivers this model in a scalable, community-focused way.
Reduced System Pressure
The team provides:
- Additional capacity during peak demand
- Support for homebirth services
- Reduced escalation and unnecessary interventions through proactive continuity
- More time per family, improving understanding and reducing avoidable presentations
Safety and Governance
- Practice aligned with NMC, NICE, and local trust protocols
- Transparent documentation and communication
- Timely referral and collaborative working
- Strong experience with vulnerable and underserved families
- Culturally safe practice to address health inequities
Experience and Expertise
Elsie Gayle, Debs Fisher, and Claire Weller bring decades of combined experience across NHS trusts, higher education, policy influence, and community practice.
Commissioning Options
Mimosa Midwives can be commissioned for:
- Continuity-of-carer programmes
- Targeted community support for specific groups
- Homebirth capacity and staffing
- Enhanced postnatal care
- Pilot projects aligned with Better Births and the NHS Long Term Plan
Who are we
All the Mimosa midwives are highly experienced and registered with the NMC.
Elsie Gayle
Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife Aquanatal Instructor, Baby Massage Teacher
Elsie is a midwife in independent practice. UK-trained, she has worked with diverse communities in the Caribbean and Africa and the United Kingdom.
Her NHS practice incorporated both low and high medical and social risk mothers. She has developed and delivered several bespoke antenatal and postnatal parent preparation programmes within the voluntary sector; working with a wide variety of families.
Currently leading on volunteer community engagement with users of maternity services, she is working with midwife colleagues to create and sustain services which are both safe for, and improve the outcomes of, all childbearing women and their families.
Michelle Richards
Registered Nurse RN Registered Midwife RM Qualified Teacher PGCE Infant Massage Instructor
Michelle is a midwife with 14 years’ midwifery experience. She embarked on this career path due to her desire to care for people in a professional capacity but she has always had a special interest in the care of women and babies. She has a strong passion and drive to give women a positive pregnancy and birth experience that they will never forget and she believes that every woman deserves this no matter what her circumstances.
Most of her midwifery career has been spent caring for women during the intrapartum period and she has cared for women with both low risk pregnancy and complex higher risk pregnancies; including those with chronic medical complications.
She also has significant experience of working in social care and has supported many families in difficult situations.
She is currently working in a Children’s Centre and has spent the last 3 years supporting women and their families during the antenatal and postnatal period. She has set up and continues to run a number of projects, including early antenatal classes preparing women for the exciting journey of pregnancy.
Additionally she runs a number of baby groups which support breastfeeding women and offer a unique support and advice network for women during the first year of baby’s life.
Her particular interest is in promoting good mental health and supporting families affected by postnatal depression.
As a qualified baby massage instructor she also offers baby massage.
Yvonne White
Registered Nurse (non-practising), Registered Midwife
Yvonne is a competent multi-skilled and highly trained midwife in independent practice with extensive experience developed over a number of years. Following a very successful NHS career where she led a Hospital ‘continuity of care’ team, and then latterly as delivery suite co-ordinator in a highly medicalised inner-city maternity unit, Yvonne has made an easy and welcome transition to becoming an independent midwife giving fully holistic care to clients.
She is qualified in the following:
- Full body massage
- Baby massage
- Indian head massage
- Aromatherapy
- Reflexology
Julia Brown
Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife Aquanatal Instructor, Aromatherapist Lactation Consultant
Julia is a midwife with over 29 years’experience working within the NHS and inner-city Birmingham. She has worked with diverse communities and has experience of working with mothers with low and high medical/social risk factors. Her most recent job before joining Mimosa is as an Early Years Commissioning Manager in Public Health where she gained a wide breadth of knowledge and skills in needs assessments and public health commissioning.
As a city lead on breastfeeding and a lactation consultant she engaged with families and service providers to improve breastfeeding services across the city; she is currently working part-time in the voluntary sector, as a Doula Co-ordinator, to improve outcomes for vulnerable pregnant women and their families.
