Accolade for Musgrove’s award-winning maternity unit

Midwives, doctors and maternity support workers at Musgrove Park Hospital have won a second national award in the space of a few months.

Judges at the HSJ Patient Safety Awards have recognised the hard work done by the hospital’s midwives and support staff to improve and maintain the safety of the maternity unit.

They said they were impressed by the engagement of staff and how much women had been involved in the improvements, particularly in helping families to deal with bereavement and in the development of the maternity information app.

Some of the highlights that judges were impressed with include:

• A significant reduction in stillbirths at Musgrove. This work also won the hospital a Royal College of Midwives policy into practice award this year.
• Improvements in the way sepsis is managed.
• A huge increase in the number of women having a flu vaccination. The hospital’s approach has even influenced national policy in this area.
• Development of a HANDi maternity smartphone app for parents to have all the maternity information they need at their fingertips.
• A ground breaking maternity apprentice scheme, which has also won an employer’s award.
• Innovative leaders throughout the maternity unit, who are committed to testing change and bringing about improvement. Some examples include the development of postal sacks for newborn screening results, a pre-conception clinic and setting up a discharge lounge.

Debra Young, head of midwifery and children’s services at Musgrove Park Hospital, said she was very proud of the work done by Musgrove’s team of midwives, doctors and support workers.

“I am immensely proud of the service we offer here in Taunton,” she said. “Winning this prestigious award is great recognition of everyone's hard work and achievement.

“This is very much an achievement by the whole team and the award is well deserved recognition of everyone’s hard work and commitment to providing the best possible service for families.”

Some of the other work at Musgrove Park Hospital’s maternity unit includes:

• A smokefree PA system outside the maternity unit which plays a pre-recorded message of a child’s voice and can be triggered when a member of staff or the public sees a pregnant woman or visitor smoking outside the unit.
• Carbon monoxide breath tests are given to all pregnant women, with all smokers referred to the NHS Mums2Be smokefree service.
• The hospital has adopted the Perinatal Institute’s growth assessment protocol to improve the detection of small babies during pregnancy.
• Staff are raising awareness of baby movements and the importance for women not to delay to report a change or reduction in movements. All pregnant women are issued with a wellbeing wallet and leaflet.
• The hospital has developed closer links with maternity related charities, such as Sands, Arthur’s Foundation and Towards Together Tomorrow.

Musgrove Park Hospital was also a finalist in five other categories at the HSJ Patient Safety Awards.