Maternity and Neonatal
Independent Senior
Advocate (MNISA)
We are so sorry if you have had a distressing experience during your maternity and/or neonatal care.
The Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate (MNISA) is a new service which is here to support women, birthing people and families to be listened to and heard after a distressing experience (an adverse outcome) during their maternity and/or neonatal care.
The information on this page relates to Nottingham University Hospitals Trust. In Nottinghamshire, the MNISA service is also available to patients of Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Trust (DBTHT).
What is a Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate?
The MNISA is someone who helps make sure women, birthing people and families’ voices are listened to, heard, and acted upon by their care teams after experiencing adverse outcomes in maternity and/or neonatal care.
They are independent from the trust, as well as the current Nottingham University Hospitals Independent Review of Maternity Services by Donna Ockenden.
How can an advocate support me?
If you had maternity or neonatal care under Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and experienced anything listed below, you can access our service:
- Your baby died before they were born, and this was after 24 weeks of pregnancy (known as stillbirth)
- Your baby has died within 28 days of being born.
- The baby’s mother has died during pregnancy or following the birth.
- You had an unexpected removal of your womb within 6 weeks of giving birth.
- You had care in a critical care unit or an intensive care unit and this wasn’t planned.
- You baby has or might have a brain injury.
Whether your experience was recently or some time ago we can:
- Help and support you and your family to be listened to and heard by your maternity and neonatal care teams.
- Go to meetings with you.
- Support you to find out more about what happened.
- Help you if you want someone to know you are unhappy about your care, and you want to ask more questions.
- Support you through investigation and complaints processes.
- Find more support for you if you need it.
You do not need to be sure if there were mistakes to ask for support.
If you experienced any of the above, we’re so sorry – if you would like support from an advocate, please get in touch and we can help.
Who is your advocate?
Manisha Sheth is the advocate for Nottingham.
Manisha’s background is supporting and advocating for families during the perinatal period as well as training staff on offering culturally-safe maternity care. Manisha is also a local infant loss bereavement counsellor and co-founded a local organisation focused on equitable perinatal care.
Manisha understands maternity care very well in Nottingham and has the skills and passion to offer compassionate support to families. She will be with you throughout your journey, listening to what matters to you and help your questions to be answered; so that you can get your voice heard by those who provided you care.
How to contact Manisha
Manisha’s service is free. You can complete a referral form which will be sent directly to Manisha.
Manisha can also be contacted by phone, WhatsApp, or email.
Phone or WhatsApp: 07770 544 808
Email: nnicb-nn.nuhmaternityneonataladvocate@nhs.net
An interpreter can be arranged if you need one.
You can also ask staff at local hospitals, GP surgeries, or other health and care professionals to ask Manisha to contact you.
It is up to you if you wish to use an advocate. If at any time you don’t want their service you can tell them, and don’t need to give a reason why.
Will Manisha tell other people what I say?
Manisha will keep what you tell her confidential unless you ask or agree for her to share it. The only exception to this is if she has worries about you or your family’s safety that she must share, which she will talk to you about first.
If Manisha is off, one of her team may help her by checking if there are messages that need a reply. They will follow the same rules as Manisha around sharing your information.
