Meet Dr Ellie Rayner, founder of The Maternity Collective

I’m Dr Ellie Rayner, I am a practising Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and founder of The Maternity Collective. 

I am passionate about promoting patient-centred care and ensuring that expectant parents have access to reliable, evidence-based information to help them make informed decisions right for them and their baby during pregnancy.

As well as being a Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MRCOG), I have a background in medical education and health services improvement and have utilised these skills, in addition to my clinical experience, to create a range of ultimate antenatal and birth preparation courses and resources. I offer a unique skillset that is unusual for a practising doctor, I am the UK’s only Obstetrician who also teaches Hypnobirthing and am proud to offer both group and private bespoke courses.

What’s the most common problem your customers approach you with?

Pregnancy can be an extremely overwhelming time, particularly for first-time parents. There is a wealth of information available online, in books and from friends and family, but unfortunately, so much of this can be out of date, inaccurate or biased based on personal experience or preconceived ideas. Knowing where to get reliable, evidence-based information can be difficult and many parents find different resources they access contradict each other. The Maternity Collective removes all of this anxiety and offers expectant parents balanced, up to date information, based on the latest research and provided in the context of the UK maternity system. Our expert-led courses cover all aspects of pregnancy, labour, birth and the newborn period in one central place and support all individual situations.

What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?

As a practising hospital clinician, I saw increasing numbers of expectant parents at work presenting with two issues. Firstly, during their pregnancy or labour when things had strayed off their previous normal path and I was meeting them in my capacity as an Obstetrician to discuss a complication, I found on discussion they had often heard, read or been taught incorrect or out of date information around particular interventions and had formed preconceived ideas around the management of certain situations in maternity care. 

Secondly, in the postnatal period or during a subsequent pregnancy I saw an increasing number of women who reported feeling totally unprepared for the reality of labour and birth and who felt this had significantly affected their experience, with some women left feeling traumatised by the events of their birth and even requesting an Elective Caesarean Section next time. After exploring these issues with my patients, I realised that both of these were a direct result of the poor and unrealistic antenatal information and education they had received. After investigation, I was shocked to discover that the antenatal education market is unregulated and there is a vast degree of information out there that is incorrect and sought to change this. 

 I founded The Maternity Collective to ensure expectant parents can access information they can trust from a range of practicing healthcare professionals who all have experience caring for women and their babies on a daily basis and the necessary qualifications and expertise to advise and guide parents during the most important time of their lives.

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

The Maternity Collective prides itself on recognising that no-one person is a specialist in all aspects of pregnancy, birth and the newborn period so we work collaboratively as a team. As a group, we consist of an Obstetrician, a Community and Home birth Midwife, an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, Newborn Behaviour Expert and Paediatrician. One of the founding principles of The Maternity Collective is that we are all qualified healthcare professionals with expertise in our own field and all continue to work clinically every day, ensuring our skills and knowledge are up to date and reflect current research evidence and guidance. We all have mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements and work with families on a daily basis so have a true understanding of modern maternity care and the reality of the UK maternity system. 

Unfortunately, as the antenatal, hypnobirthing and birth education industry is unregulated it is not uncommon for the teacher or person leading the class to have not seen a birth or cared for women in labour and they may be only a specialist in one particular field. It is also not uncommon for classes to focus only on vaginal births, or ‘low-risk’ parents, however, we want to go further and ensure all types and mode of delivery are covered as unfortunately labour and birth can be unpredictable and it is important parents are prepared for every eventuality and feel empowered to make decisions right for them and their baby.

With all the success stories around entrepreneurship and how innovative people have to be to take the leap. How do you think you’ve innovated your sector and why?

We originally planned to only provide courses in Devon, however, we recognised the need for our skills and knowledge to be accessible to parents anywhere so took our course online. We produced a complete online antenatal course that enables parents to watch hours of pre-recorded videos at their leisure and re-watch as many times as needed. Prior to launching, from our experience, we also recognised that it is not uncommon for classes to focus only on vaginal birth, or ‘low-risk’ parents so we identified a real need to ensure all types and mode of delivery are covered and created a dedicated Elective Caesarean Section course for parents who are not planning a vaginal birth, but still want to access high-quality information. We have continued to innovate and are the first company to now offer a Preconception/Trying to Conceive (TTC) course and also offer Postnatal and Infant Feeding courses. 

Additionally, the company name ‘The Maternity Collective’ was also chosen with purpose, for now we offer Antenatal and Birth Preparation Classes and resources, but in due course we hope to expand the brand to cover a wider range of expert products and services related to other aspects of pregnancy and birth.

Any new product launches we should know about? 

In keeping with The Maternity Collective’s core ethos, we are excited to be launching a new and innovative set of Pregnancy and Birth Affirmation Cards shortly. Developed in conjunction with a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner with expertise in Perinatal and Maternal Mental Health, our affirmation cards are designed to support women to form positive and empowering thoughts towards pregnancy and birth with the aid of their birth partner. Unlike other brands products, and also keeping firmly aligned to our core values, these cards support all methods of birth and are suitable for women with low and higher risk pregnancies.

How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?

This is more than a business to me; it is a mission and a true passion. When I go to work every day and meet parents who have consistently received inaccurate advice it drives me on. I will never stop being an Obstetrician and the founding principles of being a doctor is ‘First, do no harm’ and I have seen first-hand the harm misinformation has caused and I am not prepared to let it go. I am determined to expand the brand to ensure all parents can access accurate information and feel supported to make decisions right for them and their pregnancy.

What’s the most important question entrepreneurs should be asking themselves? 

What makes you different and how are you going to utilise that uniqueness? In a crowded market of birth and hypnobirthing educators, I know that we offer a unique skillset and know that this offers us the opportunity to gain traction in an area that already has well some established companies.

Is word of mouth working to your advantage? 

Absolutely, we have been overwhelmed with the feedback from our courses. We thought they would be of most benefit to first-time parents, however it has been surprising that around 10% of our customers have been couples in their second or subsequent pregnancy and they too have reported how beneficial the content was and how different they feel approaching birth this time. Fortunately, women talk and we have already had lots of recommendations based on previous parents but are hoping this will grow even further as more parents undertake our course. We have also been lucky to receive endorsements from other healthcare professionals who have also experienced the same challenges with misinformation in their own practice and have supported our mission to provide a new era of birth education.

Any moments where you thought you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?

All the time! I still work fulltime as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist for the NHS, including working frontline throughout the whole COVID-19 pandemic, so finding the time to manage a new company as well as my personal life has been challenging. Fortunately, almost every day we get a message from a parent or family who have used our course and report what a difference they feel it made to their labour and birth and that alone is enough to keep me driving forward. As a doctor, I am so passionate about helping expectant parents on their parenthood journey, this goes deeper than money or business to me and I really want to see and be the change this industry needs.

What do you think gives brand longevity?

Sticking to its core values and ethos. The Maternity Collective is founded on the principals of expertise, reliability, honesty and trust. There will always be first-time or subsequent parents in need of accurate evidence-based information to help them on their pregnancy journey and we want to offer parents the reassurance that they are in the safest hands possible during this time. Over time how we do this and the products and services we offer may change, but our values and ethos will not.