NHS Wales Midwives celebrate outstanding success at Royal College of Nursing Awards
Congratulations to midwives Sarah Morris and Laura Little who celebrated success at the recent Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Awards ceremony which highlights the outstanding achievements of award finalists, including their positive influence on best nursing practice and improving the care given to individuals and communities in Wales.
Sarah is part of the PROMPT (Practical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training) Wales team and Laura is part of the Intrapartum Fetal Surveillance Wales team. These are both Maternity Safety & Learning programmes funded by NWSSP Welsh Risk Pool Services.
Sarah was successful in the Chief Nursing Officer Award category and won her award through making transformational and sustainable improvements to training and development for multi-professional teams both in her national role as PROMPT Wales National Midwife and as Practice Development Midwife in Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. Sarah was instrumental in ensuring CTMUHB achieved the PROMPT Wales Standard of 95% PROMPT compliance in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Sarah ensures that evidence from incidents and governance reviews are triangulated and used to provide learning opportunities within PROMPT Wales training. She has identified practical system improvements in clinical environments, such as wall flipcharts to display algorithms ensuring they are easily accessible in an emergency.
Sarah reviewed local evidence around shoulder dystocia detection and demonstrated how robust training and scrutiny of data is leading to better services for women, pregnant and birthing people, and their families.
Sarah codeveloped Community PROMPT Wales and supported its implementation into community midwifery services in Wales. Sarah has encouraged the standardisation of equipment carried by community midwives. Welsh Ambulance Service Trust collaboration has improved through this programme, with paramedic attendance and a paramedic faculty.
Sarah said; “I am truly honoured to have been shortlisted and awarded the Chief Nursing Officer Award 2023. This is an incredible achievement and I have so many colleagues to thank and to be grateful to, both at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and Welsh Risk Pool Services.”
Laura was presented the RCN Runner Up Award for Supporting Education & Learning in Practice and was the first fetal wellbeing and surveillance specialist midwife in Wales at CTMUHB. Laura has recently joined the IFS Wales team at the Welsh Risk Pool and is involved in the development of a brand new programme of education and training which is to be implemented across NHS Wales later this year.
Among many innovations in her role at CTMUHB, Laura has co-ordinated and organised the training and implementation of a new system of Cardiotocography (baby heartbeat) monitors and developed a training group for qualified maternity staff.
She also co-founded and is chair of the Fetal Monitoring Network Group which includes representation from all health boards in Wales.
She has been instrumental in introducing physiological interpretation of fetal monitoring into the Health Board, devising, and adapting a new interpretation tool to enable the transition to a fully physiological approach. She has collaborated with each obstetric unit to revise reflection meetings to adapt to the challenges from the pandemic.
Laura’s work has received national recognition by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and British Medical Journal, for developing a virtual platform to facilitate reflective learning.
Laura said; “It's a real privilege to have been shortlisted for the award. To receive such recognition for all the work that has been undertaken not just by myself but the wider team, is hugely important in achieving our common goal to continuously strive to provide the best possible care for all those families in our care.”
Sarah Hookes, Assistant Head of Safety & Learning, Welsh Risk Pool Services, said;
“Both Jonathan Webb, Head of Safety & Learning, Welsh Risk Pool Services, and I are extremely proud of Sarah and Laura on their respective prestigious awards. Both are very deserving, and we are delighted that their commitment to NHS Wales maternity services has been recognised in this way. We are pleased to have them in the Welsh Risk Pool's Maternity Safety & Learning Team.”