Documentary Series Offers Insight Into West Mid's Maternity Unit
Photographer James Clifford Kent focuses on the earliest hours of new life
Midwife Caitlin Came continues to check on a baby’s wellbeing following a successful ECV. Picture: James Clifford Kent
May 6, 2026
To mark International Day of the Midwife (5 May), award-winning photographer James Clifford Kent has unveiled MIDWIFE, a new documentary series offering rare insight into the daily realities of maternity care at West Middlesex University Hospital.
The project is a follow-up to Kent’s acclaimed MATERNITY series, which captured the experience of operative birth at the Trust after the photographer’s own daughter was born in Chelsea and Westminster in 2020. With MIDWIFE, Kent returns to the maternity unit — this time atthe Trust’s other hospital in Isleworth— to focus on the midwives and maternity teams who guide women and families through pregnancy, labour and the earliest hours of new life.
Working in an instinctive, unobtrusive documentary style, Kent was embedded across the service: in antenatal clinics, the labour ward, the birth centre and postnatal care. The resulting images capture the intensity, tenderness and teamwork that define modern maternity care, from routine observations and scans to births, feeding support and newborn checks. Many of the moments he records are those rarely seen by the public — the quiet reassurance, the emotional labour, the resilience and composure required in a service under constant demand.
Kent said he felt compelled to return to complete the story he began with MATERNITY.
“I wanted to tell the other side of the story,” he said. “Our earlier work had focused on operative birth, so the wider project still felt unfinished. With MIDWIFE, I wanted to centre midwifery practice and compassionate care, and to capture the unseen moments that speak to the humanity of maternity care. Risk and uncertainty are part of the work, but so are tenderness, resilience and extraordinary composure. I wanted MIDWIFE to hold all of that at once — the beauty and intensity of maternity care.”
Midwife Amy Wakelin accompanies a family and their newborn following discharge. Picture: James Clifford Kent
Among those featured in the series is Senior Midwife Hiba Ahmed Gaideh, who spoke about the deep personal roots that led her into the profession.
“Healthcare was always part of everyday life in my family,” she said. “Volunteering in hospitals back home inspired me to become a midwife. It also gave me a deeper appreciation of the NHS, from the resources available to the standard of care. I was drawn to midwifery because it is hands-on, unpredictable and different every day. Most of all, it is about supporting women and families through some of the most important moments of their lives — and being there when parents meet their baby for the first time is a privilege I will never take for granted.”
Hiba Ahmed Gaideh, senior midwife at West Middlesex University Hospital. Picture: James Clifford Kent
Claire Davidson, Director for Nursing and Midwifery at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said the project offers a rare and honest window into the work of maternity teams.
“MIDWIFE provides a compelling and honest portrayal of modern maternity care,” she said. “It reflects the professionalism, teamwork and unwavering commitment of our midwives and maternity teams, and the high-quality care they strive to deliver around the clock.”
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