Off the back of a service user presentation at HIW event last year on the experience of expressing breastmilk and developing mastitis when her baby was care of the NNU, Amber initiated a QI project within UHS. With additional funds from the SW, this is now being supported by HIW across Wessex.

The project involves correctly measuring women and fitting for the right size flange for the breast pump. There is emerging evidence (and anecdotal feedback) to show this reduces discomfort and increasing milk yield, resulting in more babies receiving breastmilk when care of NNU. This also supports the preterm optimisation workstream.

The project focuses on equity of access of the correct equipment (as previously women had to self-fund) and has 3 drivers. Training for staff- how to measure and the importance of correct fitting. (Currently working on national training on elfh) Education for women- parent education video being developed to support women at the point of expression (to be available on Healthier Together).

Access to equipment- stocking different size flanges (adding to NHS supply chain). UHS have seen a cost saving from the original supplier of standard size flange. And producing a bespoke measuring tool to support practice.

In recognition of Ambers knowledge, passion, and dedication (and work outside of paid hours) in moving this project forward in conjunction with Health Innovation Wessex.

Went above and beyond for all the women and family in her care. She works tirelessly to ensure they receive the gold standard care we strive to give. Working with MDT’s and attending meetings, appointments and never giving up when she knows a family needs her support. Has done various CPD options since she qualified including masters’ modules and frenotomy training to enhance the care she gives. Involved in delivering several staff training programmes, enhancing the knowledge and skills of her colleagues and to share her passion with us. Endeavours to works towards achieving better outcomes for the minority groups within her care, a group who has been highlighted in better births reports, and the Ockenden report to need enhanced care to achieve better outcomes.

As in the 3-year plan, she provides tailored care to each person she is named midwife for, giving safe high-quality care, and addressing health inequalities in a way that helps women and families feel they are taken seriously. She does not stop advocating for the families when she knows there is an option to improve the quality of people’s lives, or the care they are receiving.

Has worked hard to form links with all teams that meet the families in her care and makes sure that joined-up care is achieved.

She is a great advocate for achieving the UNICEF UK Baby friendly initiative and spends lots of time with her families ensuring they are receiving the best advice and support following the BFI standards whether the family are breastfeeding or formula feeding. An exemplary midwife and deserves to be recognised for her commitment, passion, and skill

She has a long period of service supporting and responding to our service user's experiences in maternity. She is a pivot point for feeding back how we can improve and protect the quality of service we offer in Southampton. Coordinates the Birth Reflection's service and leads on the most complex of cases whilst providing role modelling and support for less experienced midwives. The Birth Reflections service is well respected by our service users but also by our multi-disciplinary team who appreciate the ability of the team to help people to understand their birth experience and plan a birth to help them feel emotionally safer in subsequent pregnancies. I would love her to be recognised - along with her administrative colleague Mel for her long-standing commitment to these families.

I would like to nominate Gloria Mancuso for her contribution to the development of diversity within the midwifery workforce in maternity services at PHUT. Gloria supported the recruitment and retention of our internationally educated midwives, including intense pastoral support and education, embedding this recruitment pathway into PHU maternity services. Gloria commenced a secondment with the University of Winchester, where she continued to be an excellent ambassador for diversity in Midwifery at PHUT.

Gloria has recently taken part in a live radio interview in partnership with Winchester University and Unity 101 Cultural Media Enterprise Limited, an independent locally based voluntary organisation, where she shared her experiences, increasing diversity and promoting midwifery as a career choice more widely within Black and Asian ethnic communities and showcased diversity in the midwifery profession specifically at PHUT. We are incredibly proud of Gloria, our PHU maternity team and continue to build a workforce that represents the communities we serve.

I would like to nominate Jenny Hey our well-being matron as she is simply wonderful.

She is a visible presence on the wards and out in our community bases to ensure staff wellbeing. Jenny will seek staff out to check in with them and it’s so appreciated. She has worked hard to ensure all staff room areas are comfortable and welcoming - including new sofas, chairs, decorative items, and an area where staff can take some time out.

Jenny ensures that every incident has a named professional midwifery advocate to support staff involved and there are always opportunities for restorative clinical supervision.

As lead PMA, multiple staff wellbeing and quality improvement projects are supported by Jenny, we have “time for tea” twice a shift where all MDT staff are encouraged to come together for a hot drink - receiving incredibly positive feedback and nurturing a better MDT working. There is a weekly initiative “rave and recognise” where colleagues can share positive feedback- this again is for all staff and has been positively received by all levels of staff.

I have worked at Portsmouth for four years now and the shift in culture to one that is nurturing, supporting and psychologically safe is palpable - meaning staff feel safe to learn and improve care together without fear. We have a happy, safe, and well supported workforce and Jen is a pinnacle of that.

Rachel Stoodley has been a practice development midwife at HHFT for 4 years and is dedicated to creating training programmes that are accessible to staff and challenge the status quo. Rachel currently leads on the emergency training programme within HHFT and is passionate about ensuring all mandatory training is designed through an equity lens to improve the experiences of women and people using our service. This work supports HHFT to achieve the ambitions of theme three in the ‘Three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services’: developing and sustaining a culture of safety, learning, and support.

Rachel has been pivotal in designing and delivering a training agenda that is striving towards an anti-racist culture and challenges implicit bias within maternity services. Rachel has linked with the MNVP and learnt from the experiences of the people in our birth equity group to develop multi-professional training that reflects the lived experience of service users from the global majority who use our services at HHFT.

Over the past year, our PROMPT programme has included a session that focuses directly on unconscious/ implicit bias and microaggressions. Rachel has personally developed her understanding of allyship over the course of her work with equity groups and uses every opportunity to open conversations that empower the workforce to consider inequity within maternity care and explore the personalisation tools available to improve outcomes. Rachel lives our Trust values throughout her work and is compassionate and understanding in her approach to facilitating sensitive yet challenging sessions that engage all staff with the reality of societal and institutional racism. Training evaluations indicate the sessions are impactful and thought-provoking, using HHFT case studies to encourage delegates to question ‘why.’ The training shines a light on how unconscious bias is a significant risk to patient safety and open discussions that allow staff to consider how we make improvements within our teams and as a service.

Rachel was awarded a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education at the University of Winchester in the summer of 2024 and is an inspirational practice educator within our maternity service. Rachel has long advocated for teaching and learning styles that are adapted to make learning more accessible for staff. This has included strategies to reduce fear and anxiety around simulation training and the new training programme for this year will be adapted to meet the needs of staff who are neuro-diverse or experience other barriers to learning. We are proud to recognise and celebrate the significant contribution Rachel has made to the inclusivity and equity agenda at HHFT.

As we all know maternity services are under scrutiny, and more than ever is not easy to run and maintain a service that delivers the best care possible. More than ever, we must work as a team and create a culture where midwives and birthing people feel safe. Emma's compassionate leadership is creating just that.

Even though sometimes Emma has to make difficult decisions that are not welcomed by some, patients’ safety talks louder and I have no doubt she always has her staff/colleagues in mind, making sure everyone is well supported and works together as the amazing working family that we have always been and will continue to be. Thank you, Emma, for doing such a difficult but amazing job.

I would like to nominate Sammi Avis our Transformation and Quality Improvement Midwife for an award relating to “Developing and sustaining a culture of safety, learning and support” at the Isle of Wight Maternity Unit. Its only recently that we have appointed a midwife to the role of transformation and quality improvement role and already this role has made such a difference the organisations safety culture by engaging our staff activity in quality improvement.

Sammi is an amazing midwife who is enthusiastic about the quality and safety of care that we deliver to our women, pregnant people, and their families. Sammi’s desire to affect positive change is infectious and her passion shines through. Sammi has undertaken some training in quality improvement methodology and uses this to engage her colleagues, explore areas for service improvements, evaluate out solutions and produce meaning full action that affect reliable change.

Sammi is involved in the transformation of maternity services and is part of strategy groups to imbed the maternity 3 yr. delivery plan e.g. PPH, personalisation etc. She also works to support work undertaken regional e.g. Wessex pathways and more recently has joined the patient safety team to drive quality improvements following on from patient safety events through PSIRF. Sammi has been praised for the way she has brought different staff groups e.g., neonatal colleagues, obstetricians, and midwives together to work on projects, thus facilitating cohesive working and collective achievements that we can be proud of as a whole service.

Sammi is well known for her ability to make things happen and has received praise from across the service. Just recently she was commended by the obstetric team for supporting the obstetric registrar in undertaking individual quality improvement projects. Sammi has been instrumental in leading work related to Kangaroo care in our SCBU, work on missed observations and medications on the Maternity Ward and is about to start co-produced workstreams with the MNVPs. Well done Sammi your work is really making a visible difference thank you.

I am pleased to nominate James Keefe for his outstanding contribution in leading the transition from paper checks to digital checks using Microsoft Forms and Power BI. This initiative has demonstrated his commitment to innovation, efficiency, and patient-centred care, aligning perfectly with the NHS England three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services.

Feedback from Colleagues and Service Users:

James has garnered widespread appreciation from colleagues for his proactive approach and collaborative spirit. His dedication to improving workflow processes has been consistently recognized across departments. Colleagues have praised his ability to simplify complex systems, ensuring a seamless transition that accommodates the needs of both clinical and administrative teams. Service users, particularly those involved in the maternity and neonatal services, have reported a significant improvement in data accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility, which enhances the quality of care.

Impact and Benefits of the Initiative:

By spearheading the switch to digital checks through Microsoft Forms and Power BI, James has addressed one of the key pain points in the previous system—manual data entry and processing, which were both time-consuming and prone to errors. The digital system ensures that checks are completed more efficiently, reducing administrative burden, and freeing up valuable time for healthcare professionals to focus on direct patient care. This transition also ensures more timely and accurate data collection, which is essential for real-time monitoring of key performance indicators within maternity and neonatal services. The integration with Power BI enables the team to analyse data more effectively, providing deeper insights into patient outcomes, resource utilization, and service performance. This aligns closely with the NHS England plan, which emphasizes data-driven decision-making to improve the safety and quality of care. James’ work supports the goals of enhancing safety, reducing disparities in outcomes, and improving patient experience, all critical priorities in the three-year plan.

Alignment with Organizational Values:

James exemplifies the core values of our organization: innovation, teamwork, and patient focus. His innovative use of Microsoft Forms and Power BI highlights his forward-thinking approach, continually seeking new ways to improve services. His collaborative efforts with colleagues to design and implement the digital check system illustrate his commitment to teamwork and inclusivity. Most importantly, his focus has always remained on improving the quality of care delivered to patients, particularly vulnerable mothers, and newborns, reflecting the organizational value of putting patients at the heart of everything we do.

In summary, James’ leadership in transitioning from paper to digital checks has had a profound impact on service efficiency and patient care. His work is a testament to his innovative spirit, commitment to collaboration, and alignment with both organizational values and the NHS maternity and neonatal service goals. He is truly deserving of this recognition.

Sarah is an exemplary community matron and an integral part of our senior midwifery team.

Sarah has worked with her teams to ensure that they are providing the safest and most equitable care.

Sarah leads by example, demonstrating to staff that she wouldn't ask them to do anything she wouldn't do herself. She steps in to work clinically in times of escalation to ensure no woman goes without the care they need. She listens to her team and identifies their strengths and areas for improvement and does everything she can to balance meeting their needs and the needs of the families we care for. She has created excellent ways of communication and sharing learning including regular one-page updates in an easy to read and engaging format, regular team meetings and an educational update session akin to speed dating. Her teams have all the relevant information they need to enable them to provide safe care. They feel listened to and truly heard which enables them to do the same for their women and families they are caring for.

Sarah is visible and approachable. She has a positive 'can do' attitude and can be relied upon to be responsive to service needs. A recent example of this was the implementation of a new vaccination service in response to the need to vaccinate pregnant women with RSV. Sarah drove this initiative across all HHFT sites and still ensured that other aspects of the service flourished. With the tight timescale for implementation, Sarah worked with the local and regional teams to respond to the national ask for vaccination to start the beginning of September – our Bank vaccination team started on 3 September while waiting for the recruitment of the vaccination nurses. Within 10 days HHFT was the 9th in the country for vaccination uptake which is remarkable as we didn’t have a vaccination team prior to this so we were starting from scratch. The success of this project is down to her determination that we provide the best care for women.