International Women’s Day, marked globally on the 8th March, is a moment to recognise the collective momentum created by women who push boundaries, challenge norms, and reshape the systems around them. It highlights the power of persistence and the impact of women whose work drives progress in healthcare, innovation, and beyond.
Today, we are pleased to speak with NHS Clinical Entrepreneur (Cohort 9) Lauren Caulfield, Student Midwife and Founder of Gracefully.
Welcome Lauren tell us a little about yourself and your innovation
Gracefully was created because of my lived experience. My daughter Grace was stillborn in 2022 and what stayed with me after she was born was the care we received, I saw how unprepared staff can feel in supporting bereaved families and once I began my midwifery training, I realised bereavement education is often inconsistent and limited. But pregnancy loss is not rare and it’s something every midwife will encounter in their career.
Gracefully addresses that gap in education, it provides structured, practical, evidence-based bereavement education from breaking bad news and memory making to understanding national guidance and cultural awareness. It aims to ensure every professional working in maternity is ready to care for bereaved families with competence and confidence.
How did your journey into innovation begin?
My journey into innovation began with the Council of Deans Student Leadership Programme, where I was inspired to create an app as my project. I was already interested in bereavement care and had a lightbulb moment that this innovation could be the answer.
I applied to the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme fully expecting that a student midwife focused on bereavement care wouldn’t be accepted, yet a couple of months later I found myself part of Cohort 9. The programme has been transformative, helping me recognise the value I bring and that I can be an innovator even as a student, while also deepening my understanding of digital development, scalability, and sustainability, and strengthening how I pitch both myself and Gracefully.
Milestones I’m proud of include joining the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, which was the first recognition of my innovation’s potential. I also recently won the Royal College of Midwives Outstanding Contribution to Pregnancy Loss and Bereavement Care Award, against some outstanding teams.
What impact do you hope your innovation will have?
I hope Gracefully will help to standardise high‑quality bereavement education nationally and embed it more firmly within pre‑registration training, while also offering greater support to qualified staff. Stronger bereavement care has wider systemic benefits too, reducing complaints, easing staff burnout, and helping to prevent long‑term psychological harm for families. If my journey shows anything, it’s that lived experience can be a powerful driver of innovation, and that being a student does not exclude you from these spaces. Good innovations can come from anyone; what matters most is the passion and determination to create meaningful change.
Is there a woman who inspires you within healthcare or innovation?
One woman who inspires me within healthcare is Alicia Burnett, a registered Midwife and founder of Black Baby Loss Awareness Week.
Over the past few years, Alicia has shown me what it truly means to lead with courage. She has taught me that if your voice is not invited to the table, you do not quietly accept that exclusion, you bring your own chair and speak anyway. Her work demonstrates that advocacy in healthcare often requires persistence, resilience, and the confidence to challenge spaces that were not originally designed to include you.
Alicia has shaped how I approach my own work in invaluable ways. One of the most important lessons she has shared is that if the space you need does not exist, you create it. As a student midwife, a Black woman, and a bereaved parent, there are many moments where it can feel as though systems and spaces were not built with people like me in mind. Alicia’s example has shown me that rather than waiting for permission, you build your own path.
What advice would you give to women interested in innovation?
The biggest piece of advice I would give is to stop waiting to feel ready. If you wait for complete confidence, you may never begin. It’s normal to feel nervous or to doubt yourself, but innovation isn’t reserved for a particular job title or gender. Whether you’re a consultant or a student, like I am, you bring a perspective no one else has. Some of the most impactful innovations come from people who see problems first‑hand and refuse to accept that things must stay the same. Healthcare moves forward when we all feel able to question, challenge, and build something better.
Programmes like the CEP also show that you don’t need to do it alone. This community is incredibly supportive and being surrounded by other women who are building, testing and improving healthcare makes a huge difference. Innovation can feel intimidating at first, but finding the right community gives you the confidence and courage to keep going.
If you have an idea, take that first step. You don’t need anyone else’s permission to start.