Shared from Within Reach Magazine Summer 2025. Read it now!
As a result of the Parental Experience Survey which many of you contributed to a couple of years ago, we are excited to announce that Reach has obtained funding to support a years’ project to:
- 1) improve the knowledge and communication between 1st healthcare responders, new parents and specialists at the time of the surprising news that a newborn baby has a limb difference
- 2) raise awareness of Reach and improve access for all new parents
- 3) To provide for extra support for new Reach parents
- 4) Mentor Reach Branch Co-ordinators who support new parents voluntarily
Our very own Emma Gilpin – has agreed to step up and help us one day a week, with the hope of starting in September. Emma is a Reach mum and an experienced children’s nurse who brings both personal understanding and professional insight to this new role within the charity.
When Emma found out during pregnancy that their son would be born with an upper limb difference, it came as a complete shock. She says: “I remember it so clearly, all the questions, the fears, the not knowing what it would mean for him or for us as a family. It was knowing about Reach that helped us see things differently and reminded us that we weren’t alone.”
Alongside her lived experience, Emma has spent many years working with children and families in all sorts of healthcare settings, from intensive care to community services and everything in between. She’s seen first-hand how powerful early support and good communication can be for families receiving unexpected news.
In this new role as Reach Liaison Nurse, Emma will be helping to raise awareness of Reach within the NHS, supporting new parents, and working closely with healthcare professionals to make those early conversations more informed, compassionate, and consistent. She believes that professional education, early intervention, and clear signposting are key to improving the experience for families.
Emma continues, “This project means a lot to me, both professionally and personally. It’s a chance to really make a difference, and hopefully make things just a little easier for the next family.”
It’s a chance to really make a difference.
We will start by surveying the Obstetric units around the country and ask where they currently get their information on upper limb differences from – and then feed back to them and help improve their training etc.
Working together with the NHS, Reach is in a unique position to improve the experience for all new parents.
Do let us know if you have any further thoughts on this project.
You are welcome to contact Ruth Lester, our trustee, who is a retired Consultant Plastic Surgeon with many years of experience of working with children with upper limb differences and their families, and continues to have contact with the healthcare professionals involved in this project – Ruthl@reach.org.uk.
Shared from Within Reach Magazine Summer 2025. Read it now!