Leeds maternity team crowned ‘WaterWipes Team of the Year’ by RCM
By Leeds maternity team crowned ‘WaterWipes Team of the Year’ by RCM on 06 May 2020 RCM Midwifery Community Midwives Midwives Specialist Midwives RCM CEO RCM Member Awards FGM - Female Genital Mutilation
A maternity team that has worked for a decade to improve outcomes for BAME and vulnerable women in Leeds has been named WaterWipes Maternity Team of the Year by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).
The winning maternity service from Leeds Teaching Hospital was established in 2010 after a Local Health Needs Assessment identified gaps in service provision for asylum seekers, refugees, women who have been trafficked, survivors of FGM and socially isolated homeless women.
The multidisciplinary team consists of two midwives, Victoria Cranston and Hannah Marsh, two bilingual maternity support workers, a team co-ordinator and an FGM specialist midwife. The service is also supported by two specialist midwives who focus on infant feeding and domestic violence. Crucially women can receive full antenatal, postnatal care and infant feeding support with interpreters where required in their own homes.
Commenting, Gill Walton Chief Executive of the RCM said: “It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the entire maternity team at Leeds Teaching Hospital for the work that they have done and continue to do in ensuring all pregnant women, including those most vulnerable women are receiving personalised, high quality maternity care. This team is truly innovative and are using a diverse mix of midwifery skills to deliver maternity care to a diverse population in Leeds. The team has worked tirelessly to empower and inform women, also improving access to maternity services and putting women at the centre of their own care and this is certainly something to celebrate.”
The Haamla Service run weekly midwife led antenatal and postnatal clinics for women who have experienced FGM. Maternity support workers promote access to maternity services by running weekly antenatal classes and having their own caseload of women they support. Antenatal classes are run in their different geographical areas, specifically those with high BAME population; and a bimonthly hospital class including a tour of the Delivery Suite is also available
Commenting, Jill Sommerville, Director of Medical at WaterWipes said:
“The award for Team of the Year recgonises the excellent work midwifery and maternity teams around the country do day in and day out.
It gives WaterWipes great pleasure to congratulate Victoria Cranston and Hannah Marsh, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for winning the RCM team of the year 2020 sponsored by WaterWipes. The team in Leeds Teaching Hospital have shown such commitment to ensuring that high quality midwifery care is available for those women in the Leeds Area – well done!”
ENDS
Contact: RCM media relations team on 020 7312 3456 or media@rcm.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
The RCMs Annual Midwifery Awards ceremony for 2020 was due to take place London on May 5 has now been cancelled following the Government lockdown extension as a result the Covid-19 pandemic. The RCM will be announcing details of all the winners from May 4 across the course of the week.
More details on the RCMs Annual Midwifery Awards are available here: https://www.rcmawards.com/
The RCM is the only trade union and professional association dedicated to serving midwifery and the whole midwifery team. We provide workplace advice and support, professional and clinical guidance and information, and learning opportunities with our broad range of events, conferences and online resources