Excellence in local NHS maternity services is recognised

Excellence and innovation within maternity and neonatal services across Suffolk and north east Essex were recognised at the recent NHS East of England Perinatal Awards.

The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board’s (ICB) Maternity and Neonatal Team scooped the Maternity Team of the Year Award for its work in bringing together partners from across the system to support families, address health inequalities, implement best practice and improve outcomes.

Recognition was also given to Ali Brett, bereavement midwife from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, being awarded runner up in the Excellent Service User Experience category.

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust saw Georgie Brown winning the Allied Health Professional of the Year Award for her work in establishing regular choking and resuscitation training for families, and Catherine Frost winning runner up for Neonatal Nurse of the Year Award.

Mollin Delve from PHOEBE also won runner up as Service User Voice of the Year for the work she has done with the ICB team on supporting Black families within Suffolk, supporting healthy pregnancies and addressing wider determinants of health.

Lisa Nobes, the ICB’s Chief Nurse, said: “I am very proud of all the team members across maternity and neonatal service who work together to provide the best care they can for our families. There were 19 nominees, runners-ups and winners from our system. It shows how hard teams work, and how committed they are to supporting families.”

Karen Newbury, Director of Midwifery for the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are incredibly fortunate to have colleagues such as Georgie and Catherine here at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, and it is so heartening to see them get this well-deserved recognition for all their hard work.”

Amanda Price-Davey, Director of Midwifery at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re delighted that Ali has been recognised for the incredible work that she does to support bereaved families.

“Our maternity teams work incredibly hard and are committed to providing the best care to all our families, so it is wonderful when their work is appreciated in this way.”

Wendy Matthews OBE, NHS Regional Chief Midwife, said: “The ICB’s Maternity and Neonatal Team go above and beyond the national agenda, working with families to understand the challenges they face and coproduce changes to help them access services in a timely manner, and the receive the best care, in the right place.

“The overall quality of the entries was extremely high this year with over 100 nominations.

“There have been numerous improvements made to maternity and neonatal services over the last couple of years and Suffolk and north east Essex have been leading the way in many of those areas.

“Congratulations to all the individuals and teams and thank you all for your hard work, commitment and dedication to provide safe high-quality care.”