Midwives celebrate outstanding success at national RCM awards ceremony
Three midwives from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership have won a national award for their work to make emergency maternity care in the community safer.
Sarah Morris, Sarah Hookes, and Jane Storey received the Excellence in Midwifery for Education & Learning sponsored by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) annual awards in London on 19 May.
RCM’s Chief Executive, Gill Walton said: “Improving safety is the number one priority for maternity care and this team have delivered on this in spades. Their work has led to important changes nationally and is right now making a real difference to the care of women and babies right at the frontline. All three have earned the plaudits their work is gaining and richly deserve to be applauded and recognised for it. This award will certainly help to do that, and they are richly deserving recipients of it.”
Sarah, Sarah, and Jane developed and implemented, in conjunction with Midwives throughout Wales the Community PROMPT Wales programme. This is an innovative training programme designed to support community midwifery teams to manage childbirth emergencies effectively in community settings with the aim of improving the safety of women giving birth in community settings. Training is also facilitated and attended by paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust this building strong relationships between the two professions who work together in the community setting to support women and babies.
Sarah, Sarah, and Jane said, “We are overjoyed to have Community PROMPT Wales recognised in this way and to receive this prestigious award from the RCM is the greatest honour. This programme has changed the landscape of obstetric emergency training and we are proud to have recently worked with the PROMPT Maternity Foundation to develop a similar programme for the UK so midwives, women and babies can benefit from this outside of Wales. We would like to thank NWSSP for supporting this programme, Jonathan Webb, Head of Safety & Learning for his support and encouragement, our wider Welsh Risk Pool team, all those who assisted with the development of the programme and Heads of Midwifery. However, the success of this programme is largely due to our midwifery colleagues who facilitate this training in their local Health Boards, and we want to applaud them for their dedication and support.”
Jonathan Webb, Head of Safety & Learning, Welsh Risk Pool, said: “I am delighted that Sarah Hookes and the team have won the RCM Award for Excellence in Midwifery for Education & Learning. This relates to the excellent work that they have done in designing, in Wales, the Community PROMPT Wales programme.”
“Not only is this a success in Wales but through our collaboration with PROMPT Maternity Foundation, is now available for units throughout the UK. Many congratulations to Sarah, Jane and Sarah, and the whole team.”
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive and Registrar at the NMC, said: “I’m delighted the NMC has sponsored the RCM award for Excellence in Midwifery for Education & Learning this year and I’m thrilled the team from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership has won. Improving the safety of maternity care services is an absolute priority and is the central focus of this initiative. The training programme is making a real difference to the lives of women and babies, who are now safer because of it. Huge congratulations to Sarah, Jane, and Sarah – you are a true credit to the midwifery profession.”