More award recognition for hospital team
RECOGNITION keeps pouring in for the maternity team at a Coventry hospital.
University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) has been shortlisted for a national award, recognising its outstanding contribution to maternity care.
It comes after midwife Claudia Anghel was chosen to feature in a photography project celebrating the NHS.
She was one of just three people in the Midlands to be included in the project, photographed by Rankin, who is well-known for his portraits of the Rolling Stones and the Queen.
Claudia, who lives in Nuneaton, has since made headlines around the world with her story of moving from Romania to the UK to give her son a better life.
Her portrait featured on a billboard in a huge display at Piccadilly Circus in London.
The Health Service Journal (HSJ) runs its Patient Safety Awards every year to recognise projects and initiatives within the NHS which provide outstanding services.
In September last year the team at UHCW launched the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle version 2 as part of NHS England’s drive to reduce the rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and neonatal brain injuries.
The care bundle is available to all expectant parents, as well as healthcare professionals and brings together elements of care which can improve poor pregnancy outcomes.
These include reducing smoking in pregnancy, checking baby’s growth, raising awareness of reduced foetal movement, effective monitoring of baby’s heartbeat during labour and supporting the prevention of pre-term birth.
The team at UHCW has introduced a biweekly Maternity Safety Champion Production Board where key targets and performance are discussed.
The project has seen the maternity department named as a finalist for the Changing Culture Award.
Gaynor Armstrong, Group Director of Midwifery at UHCW, said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the award, recognising the collaborative efforts and dedication of our team over the last 12 months.
“This nomination has been a tremendous boost to staff at UHCW and I am sure it will bolster our continued efforts to improve our mission to provide safer care and a better service to all our patients.
“Among other things, it will help to provide safer care, protect babies’ lives and ensure fewer families suffer loss.”
Professor Nina Morgan, Chief Nursing Officer at UHCW, added: “I am extremely proud of the hard work of our Maternity team in launching this initiative.
“The care bundle provides vital information to expectant parents in understanding the risks and recognising warning signs associated with baby loss, ensuring mothers and their babies are as safe as possible during pregnancy.
“This well-deserved nomination reinforces the Trust’s commitment to patient safety and is a very important step towards meeting the Government’s commitment to halve stillbirths and neonatal baby deaths by 2025.”