Melton and city midwives shortlisted for UK awards

The whole maternity team will find out next week if they’ve won the Team Award at the new Maternity and Midwifery Festival Awards 2019.

They were nominated for the honour by Kerry Williams, who is midwifery matron at the Leicester General

She said: “I nominated our team because I have never been prouder to work with a team of midwives, care assistants, doctors, housekeepers, domestics and students.

“When there are times of crisis and peaks of high activity the whole team across all sites comes together to provide the best care for women.

“Cross site support is excellent, with the team at St Mary’s assisting with triaging phone calls and taking low risk women to birth there and the Home Birth team come in to the maternity units at the Royal and General to help out when we are in desperate need of support.

“On top of the day to day operational activity we have a team that strive for safety, positive experiences for women as well as regularly looking for new ways to make working life easier and more supportive.

“Over the past few years we have rolled out an enhanced recovery pathway, which supports our women to have a 24-hour discharge following elective caesarean section and has reported an increase in patient satisfaction.”

Remarkably, the maternity service at Leicester’s Hospitals has been shortlisted in all five categories in the awards scheme, which recognises outstanding achievement and commitment by midwifery and maternity staff across the nation.

The five award categories are Innovation, Management, Student Midwife, Team and Achievement.

In the shortlist announcement, Paul Rushworth of Maternity & Midwifery Forum, said: “There are many worthy nominees on the list, but we have to give a special mention to University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust who have managed to be shortlisted in every award category – the first time this has happened at one of our festivals.”

For the Innovation Award, Leicester’s Hospitals’ dedicated Home Birth team has been nominated.

The team, set up in 2017 by midwife Annabelle Barker, are passionate about home birth and strive to achieve a positive birth experience and safe outcome for both mother and baby.

The team have a base at Glenfield Hospital and provide a 24-hour service for women who live in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Annabelle has also been shortlisted for the Management Award for her role in setting up and leading the Home Birth team.

Midwifery research manager, Molly Patterson, has also been nominated for the Management Award.

Molly was nominated by a midwife for being a positive, supportive and approachable manager.

She encourages the team to develop by holding regular team building sessions, and is always helpful while juggling many priorities.

Newly qualified midwife, Rebecca Telling, has been nominated for the Student Midwife award.

Rebecca qualified in January 2019 and now works in the maternity unit at the General.

She has been nominated for this award for her valuable contribution to a recent breastfeeding project and exhibition.

Rebecca has also been supporting the local campaign for ‘Don’t fear the smear’.

Barbara MacDonald, a clinical placement facilitator has been shortlisted for the achievement award by a student midwife for her invaluable support to them.

Fittingly, the awards will be held in Leicester, on Tuesday, at the King Power Stadium.

St Mary’s Birth Centre, in Melton, remains under threat of closure as part of the hospital trust’s plans to concentrate maternity services in city hospitals and give more support to home births.