Georgie Brown from West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust won a perinatal award for her choking and resuscitation training programme

Awards have been handed out to midwives, nurses and those working in maternity services, that go ‘above and beyond’ for families in Suffolk.

Amongst those recognised at the recent NHS East of England Perinatal Awards were Georgie Brown and Catherine Frost, who work for the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT).

Georgie won the Allied Health Professional of the Year Award for her role running choking and resuscitation training for families, while Catherine was runner up in the Neonatal Nurse of the Year Award category.

Georgie, who lives near Stowmarket, is the lead multidisciplinary team educator for the trust’s maternity services.

She said: “It is amazing to be recognised for this project, which provides life-long skills to so many parents and carers in our communities.

“I would like to thank my team and everyone involved in organising these sessions, and also everyone that has attended.

“Hopefully we can continue running these sessions for years to come.”

Catherine, a senior staff nurse on the WSFT neonatal unit at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, said: “It was a real honour to receive the nomination for neonatal nurse of the year.

“I aim to provide the best possible standard of care to babies and their families during what is such a special but often difficult time.

“Providing this standard of care is absolutely a team effort, and I’m so thankful to have such a good team around me.”

Karen Newbury, director of midwifery for WSFT, which runs West Suffolk Hospital and Newmarket Community Hospital, said: “We are incredibly fortunate to have colleagues such as Georgie and Catherine here at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

“It is so heartening to see them get this well-deserved recognition for all their hard work.”

Allie Brett, a bereavement midwife from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs Ipswich Hospital, was runner up in the Excellent Service User Experience category.

Another runner up was Mollin Delve, from PHOEBE, in the Service User Voice of the Year category.

Mollin has worked with the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Intergrated Care Board (ICB), supporting black families in Suffolk with healthy pregnancies and addressing wider areas of health.

The ICB’s maternity and neonatal team scooped the maternity team of the year, recognised for its efforts bringing together partners from across the system to support families, address health inequalities, implement best practice and improve outcomes.

Wendy Matthews OBE, NHS regional chief midwife, said: “The ICB’s maternity and neonatal team go above and beyond the national agenda, working with families to understand the challenges they face and coproduce changes to help them access services in a timely manner, and the receive the best care, in the right place.

“The overall quality of the entries was extremely high this year with over 100 nominations.

“There have been numerous improvements made to maternity and neonatal services over the last couple of years and Suffolk and north east Essex have been leading the way in many of those areas.”