Clare LivingstoneSector leader

Biography

Clare Livingstone is Head of Professional Policy and Practice at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the UK's only professional organisation and trade union for midwives. She has previously been listed on the RCM's staff page under the title Professional Advisor, Policy and Public Health. She is a regular public voice on maternity policy, having given evidence to the House of Commons inquiry on Black maternal health in June 2025 and spoken at a UK Health Security Agency national webinar on maternal vaccinations in January 2026. She has advocated publicly for mandatory midwifery training on unconscious bias and cultural competency, for equity in perinatal mental health provision, and for workforce capacity to support vaccination programmes in pregnancy.

References

1. 1.Clare Livingstone – Royal College of Midwives staff page — Confirms her employment at the RCM under the title Professional Advisor, Policy and Public Health
2. 2.RCM gives evidence to inquiry on Black maternal health — Confirms title 'Head of Policy and Practice' and her evidence to the House of Commons Black maternal health inquiry, June 2025
3. 3.Midwives' trusted role is vital to improving vaccine uptake in pregnancy, RCM tells national webinar — Confirms title 'Head of Professional Policy and Practice' and her appearance at the UKHSA maternal vaccinations webinar, January 2026
4. 4.Royal College of Midwives backs Parliamentary Bill pushing for better perinatal mental health care — Confirms title and her public advocacy on perinatal mental health, October 2025

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

• Maternity inequalities
• Black maternal health
• Perinatal mental health
• Maternal vaccination policy
• Midwifery workforce
• Public health in pregnancy

Notable achievements

• Gave evidence to the House of Commons inquiry on Black maternal health on behalf of the RCM in June 2025, calling for mandatory training on unconscious bias and cultural competency for all midwives. Source ↗
• Represented the RCM at a UK Health Security Agency national webinar on maternal vaccinations (January 2026), setting out the role midwives play in supporting informed vaccine decisions in pregnancy. Source ↗
• Cited in the House of Lords Library briefing on RSV protection for infants (2025) for highlighting challenges maternity services face in implementing new vaccination programmes. Source ↗
• Backed the Perinatal Mental Health Assessments Bill ('Sophie's Law') publicly on behalf of the RCM in October 2025, calling for an end to the postcode lottery in perinatal mental health care. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “The recommendations in this report must be acted upon urgently and everyone in maternity services must work together to tackle these shocking disparities. It should not be the case that these inequalities exist in England today.”

  head of policy and practice at the Royal College of Midwives · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Systemic racism affects maternity care for black women in England, say MPs ↗

• “This is an absolute tragedy for women, babies and the midwives and maternity support workers who care for them. Many are avoidable and the lack of progress over more than a decade is unacceptable.”

  head of professional policy and practice at the RCM · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Maternal death rate in UK rose by 20% over 14 years despite Tory pledge ↗

• “Incomplete data is a fundamental barrier to improving maternity care. Without a full picture of what is happening before, during and after birth, it is much harder to identify where action is needed and these figures point to a significant gap in NHS maternity data.”

  head of professional policy and practice at the Royal College of Midwives · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Risk of serious birth injuries is rising for women in England, data suggests ↗

Source references

1. Systemic racism affects maternity care for black women in England, say MPstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. Maternal death rate in UK rose by 20% over 14 years despite Tory pledgetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
3. Risk of serious birth injuries is rising for women in England, data suggeststheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://rcm.org.uk/team/clare-livingstone/
• LinkedInhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/clare-livingstone-44246453

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.