medicolegal midwifery experts 

Emma Fleary

Senior Midwife | Professional Midwifery Advocate | Expert Witness | Neonatal Examiner

Emma is a senior NHS midwife with nearly 20 years of experience spanning the UK, private practice, and international settings. Since qualifying in 2006, she has developed comprehensive expertise across community midwifery, homebirth services, neonatal examination, and maternity care governance.

Emma currently serves in dual leadership positions at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation. Emma is the Lead Professional Midwifery Advocate for the Trust where she provides specialist support mentoring midwives through pivotal professional challenges and contributing to the upkeep clinical standards and patient safety in maternity services. Emma also holds a lead role in Midwifery recruitment, retention and pastoral support Trust, where she focuses on workforce wellbeing and development. Emma is also qualified to perform Newborn Initial Physical Examination – an advanced midwifery skill.

Emma's career also includes international midwifery practice at Corniche Hospital in Abu Dhabi, independent midwifery work in London, and homebirth services in specialist NHS teams. Her broad and diverse experience equips her with a unique perspective on maternity care

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Emma combines her midwifery knowledge, leadership experience, and deep understanding of midwifery care and practice to provide impartial, evidence-based expert opinion in medicolegal cases. Emma understands her responsibilities under Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) pertaining to expert witnesses. Emma accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers.

Hannah Horne

Head of Midwifery & Gynaecology | Professional Midwifery Advocate | Expert Witness

Hannah is a highly experienced senior midwife with over 20 years of practice across hospital and community settings. She has a proven track record in maternity leadership, service redesign, and clinical governance, with specialist expertise in complaint investigation, complex birth management, and strategic service delivery.

As Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, Hannah holds overall responsibility for the operational and strategic delivery of maternity services. She ensures safe staffing, quality assurance, and compliance with national standards, while leading on high-profile clinical governance investigations and complex complaint management. She frequently represents the Trust in local and national forums and is an experienced report writer and public speaker.

Hannah's earlier roles include Deputy Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology, where she led the redesign of community services in line with national standards, and Community Midwifery Matron, where she championed service enhancement and personalised care.

Alongside her clinical leadership, Hannah collaborates with Birthrights as an expert midwifery trainer, skilfully integrating human rights law into maternity practice. She has also contributed to the development of national maternity policy and served as a visiting lecturer, receiving excellent feedback from both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Hannah holds an MSc in Public Health, a BSc in Midwifery Practice, and is a Professional Midwifery Advocate. She is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Health at the University of Bath, further advancing her academic and professional contribution to the field. Her leadership and innovation have been recognised through multiple local, regional, and national award nominations.

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Hannah applies her extensive knowledge of midwifery practice, investigative expertise, and evidence-based approach to provide clear, impartial, and high-quality expert opinion in medicolegal cases. Hannah has completed the Bond Solon course “Excellence in report writing” and understands her responsibilities under Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) pertaining to expert witnesses. Hannah accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers.

Freya Priest

Lead Midwife | Labour Ward Coordinator | Neonatal Examiner | Expert Witness

Freya is a senior NHS midwife with nearly 20 years of continuous practice, combining frontline clinical expertise with leadership, education, and governance. Since qualifying in 2006, she has specialised in intrapartum care, labour ward coordination, and neonatal examination, alongside developing strong expertise in incident investigation, risk assessment, and evidence-based practice.

Freya is currently the Lead Midwife for the Midwifery Led Unit at Sheffield Teaching Hospital, where she oversees service delivery, team leadership, and improvement initiatives. She has also maintained her long-standing clinical leadership role as a labour ward coordinator since 2012, bringing extensive experience in leading multidisciplinary teams, ensuring safe staffing, managing complex cases, and advocating for personalised, rights-centred care.

Between 2019 and 2021, Freya served as Practice Development Midwife, responsible for the education of over 300 midwifery and obstetric staff members, CNST compliance, and the delivery of emergency skills training. Earlier in her career, she gained international experience in Zambia, working in rural maternal health and training traditional birth attendants.

Freya has previously given evidence at both coroners court and in family court.

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Freya applies her extensive knowledge of midwifery practice and care guidelines and delivers an evidence-based, clear, impartial, and high-quality expert opinion in medicolegal cases. Freya has completed the Bond Solon course “Excellence in report writing” and understands her responsibilities under Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) pertaining to expert witnesses. Freya accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers.

Lucy Simpson

Maternity Matron | Operational Manager  | Expert Witness

Lucy is an experienced Inpatient Maternity Matron with over 13 years of dedicated service in midwifery and maternity care. She has worked in several trusts of differing sizes, serving a wide variety of patient needs and midwifery leadership challenges.

Lucy initially moved into a management position as Lead Midwife of a Birth Centre in a central London Trust. This role was very clinically focussed and required strong and credible midwifery skills/  Alongside this she also led a project to redesign a part of the service to meet the needs of a Continuity of Carer model. Following this Lucy moved into her current Inpatient Matron position which she has enjoyed for the last 4 years. Lucy leads a large maternity team that delivers thousands of babies per annum. Lucy is responsible for operational oversight and all maternity inpatient clinical pathways as well as staff performance and development.

With a strong commitment to safe, compassionate, and woman-centred practice, Lucy has led teams of midwives and healthcare professionals, ensuring the delivery of high-quality care and positive outcomes for mothers and babies. Her expertise spans both low- and high-risk maternity services, with particular strengths in clinical leadership, service development, risk management and workforce support.

As Maternity Matron, she is passionate about driving improvements in patient experience, staff wellbeing, and clinical excellence. She works closely with multidisciplinary teams to promote evidence-based practice, uphold national standards, and create a supportive, empowering environment for women, families, and staff alike. Lucy is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of midwives, sharing her knowledge and fostering a culture of professional growth and compassionate care.

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Lucy applies her extensive knowledge of midwifery practice and care guidelines to deliver evidence-based, clear, impartial, and high-quality expert opinion in medicolegal cases. Lucy has completed the Bond Solon course “Excellence in report writing” and understands her responsibilities under Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) pertaining to expert witnesses. Lucy accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers.

Hannah Lewis

Lead midwife | Quality, Risk and Safety Midwife | Expert Witness

Hannah is an experienced Registered Midwife with over 10 years of clinical practice across maternity services, with a strong background in patient safety, clinical governance, and leadership within the hospital setting. She has held a number of senior roles, including Matron for Maternity Governance, where she provided division-wide oversight of patient safety, ensuring that clinical practice was aligned with national standards and evidence-based guidelines.

In her role as Matron, Hannah led on the implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), maintained oversight of maternity incidents and investigations, and was responsible for the statutory duty of candour across the division. She played a key role in ensuring that policies and procedures were benchmarked against national guidance and that learning from incidents was embedded into clinical practice to drive improvements in safety and quality of care.

Hannah currently works as a Ward Sister overseeing an inpatient maternity ward, providing leadership across antenatal and postnatal services. Her clinical expertise includes antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, risk assessment, fetal monitoring including cardiotocography interpretation, emergency obstetric care, and escalation and mitigation processes. She also has significant experience in clinical governance, including incident investigation, root cause analysis, documentation standards, and compliance with national guidelines such as NICE and RCOG.

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Hannah combines her clinical expertise with her extensive experience in patient safety and governance to provide clear, balanced, and evidence-based expert opinion in medicolegal cases. She understands her duties as an expert witness and the requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). Hannah accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers, and her work is underpinned by integrity, accuracy, and a strong commitment to patient safety.

Heather Woods

Specialist Midwife in Maternal Medicine | Advanced Midwifery Practitioner | Expert Reviewer & Witness

Heather is a highly experienced senior midwife with over 15 years in NHS maternity services, specialising in the care of women with complex medical conditions in pregnancy. She is passionate about reducing maternal morbidity, improving health equity, and ensuring safe, evidence-based, and personalised maternity care.

Heather currently works as Specialist Lead Midwife for the Sussex Maternal Medicine Network at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, where she leads on service development, quality improvement, and regional data reporting for national maternity medicine standards. She also manages a specialist team of maternal medicine midwives and is an independent prescriber, reflecting her advanced clinical expertise.

In 2024, Heather was appointed as an Expert External Reviewer for the Falkland Islands Government, where she has independently reviewed maternity services, advised on future obstetric strategy and governance best practice. Heather has also provided expert evidence at coroners' court.

Heather holds a BSc (Hons) in Midwifery and an MSc in Advanced Practice. She has also held senior leadership roles in antenatal clinics and maternity assessment units, with proven experience guiding services through challenging times.

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Heather applies her extensive knowledge of midwifery practice to deliver evidence-based, clear, impartial, and high-quality expert opinion in medicolegal cases. Heather has completed the Bond Solon course “Excellence in report writing” and understands her responsibilities under Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) pertaining to expert witnesses. Heather accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers

Amanda Anderson

Labour Ward Senior Midwife | NMC fitness to practice panel member | Expert Witness

Amanda is an experienced Registered Midwife with over 13 years of clinical practice across both hospital and community maternity settings. She currently works as a Labour Ward Coordinator within a large tertiary unit, where she is responsible for overseeing the safe and effective running of the delivery suite, including coordinating clinical activity, ensuring appropriate staffing, and supporting junior midwives and students.

Alongside her clinical role, Amanda serves as a Registrant Member on Fitness to Practise Panels at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), contributing her professional expertise to independent hearings assessing concerns related to conduct, competence, and fitness to practise. Her previous roles as a Practice Development Midwife and Professional Midwifery Advocate have further strengthened her expertise in education, leadership, and supporting safe, reflective clinical practice.

Amanda has extensive experience across all aspects of maternity care, including antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, maternal and fetal risk assessment, induction of labour, fetal monitoring, and emergency obstetric care. She is highly skilled in labour ward coordination, escalation processes, and maintaining high standards of clinical documentation and governance, with a strong understanding of national guidance including NICE and RCOG standards.

At Kelly Parker Medicolegal, Amanda combines her clinical expertise, leadership experience, and regulatory insight to provide clear, balanced, and evidence-based expert opinion in medicolegal cases. She understands her duties as an expert witness and the requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). Amanda accepts instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers, and her work is underpinned by integrity, accuracy, and a commitment to high standards of maternity care.