Sonia Barnfield

Interim Deputy Clinical Director

Sonia is a consultant obstetrician, appointed in 2010 with clinical interests in maternal medicine (women with pre-existing medical conditions who are pregnant), labour ward care and patient safety. She is the consultant lead for clinical governance in maternity at Southmead Hospital Bristol (part of North Bristol NHS Trust) and plays an active role in the Trust’s patient safety committee. Sonia previously held the role of speciality lead at Southmead Hospital and is now the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS)lead for the Trust.

Sonia’s passions are improving patient safety through learning from events and quality improvement. She has been instrumental in developing PROMPT (Practical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training) and has trained many units in the UK and worldwide and published PROMPT training manuals. All these experiences have led her to take a lead role as a regional clinical advisor to our maternity investigation programme since 2018.

Sonia also has an interest in obstetric care in the developing world and used her expertise to improve the care available to mothers and babies in West Timor and Kenya during a one-year fellowship through the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists and VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) and has since run ‘train the trainers’ courses in Zimbabwe and Indonesia as part of PROMPT.

Articles by Sonia Barnfield

Risk assessments during the maternity care pathway

13 March 2023

Following the publication of our national learning report on the same topic, Sonia Barnfield looks at risk assessments during the maternity care pathway.

Read the full article