Sixty participants sign up to study looking at preventing anaemia in pregnancy

Jess McArthur, a midwife at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, has seen the effects of anaemia in pregnancy first-hand so when she heard about the study she said she had no concerns signing up to help others.

She said: "Being a midwife and now being pregnant I felt a professional and personal duty to help improve outcomes for other women.

"The study is really well supported by a fantastic team who are very reassuring so it made my decision to sign up really easy.

"I have always been fully briefed and informed as well as being supplied with lots of information."

Around a third of UK pregnant women develop anaemia caused by a lack of iron.

Anaemia may mean that women experience general health problems such as excessive tiredness.

Severe anaemia during pregnancy might increase the risk of a baby being stillborn, born early, or born small. It may also increase the risk of blood loss during childbirth and effect a baby’s development.

Since the study opened in January at RWT, 60 participants have been recruited.

Ellmina McKenzie, lead research midwife,said: "We are so grateful to all the mums to be who have signed up to the PANDA study - they are making a real difference to our understanding of anaemia in pregnancy, which will help other mums and babies in the future."