Consultant midwives awarded prestigious silver Chief Midwifery Officer award

Congratulations to our consultant midwives Natalie Carter, Louise Nunn and Claire Davidson for receiving the Silver Chief Midwifery Officer Award for their excellent services to maternity care during the pandemic.

This prestigious award was presented to the three midwives by Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Chief Midwifery Officer and Kate Brintworth, Regional Chief Midwifery Officer for London.

During the pandemic, all three senior midwives went above and beyond their roles to ensure that women, birthing people and their families received high-quality, safe and personalised maternity care.

Louise demonstrated her exceptional commitment to the mental wellbeing of both service users and staff during the pandemic. She developed mindfulness sessions to support the wellbeing of stressed and busy staff, worked with the wider team to develop an online antenatal education package and ensured that women were supported through maternal requests for Caesarean sections virtually.

Natalie led the communication strategy with women and their families via continuous updates of the Trust website and weekly Facebook Live sessions. She also ensured the service continued to provide homebirth services during all waves of the pandemic—we were one of only two such services in London to achieve this during the first wave of COVID-19. Her understanding of women, birthing people and their needs is central to everything Natalie does.

Claire spent more than 300 hours in intensive care units at both our Chelsea and West Middlesex sites during the first wave. She worked not only as a consultant midwife across maternity but also as an intensive care nurse. As someone who is kind, measured, calm and determined, Claire had the perfect mix of qualities needed during these exceptionally challenging times.

Victoria Cochrane, Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology, said: “So many of the incredible staff in maternity go above and beyond every day for women, birthing people, their families and their colleagues. I am delighted that Natalie, Louise and Claire have been recognised for going the extra mile every day, but especially during the pandemic.”

This is a wonderful achievement for Natalie, Louise and Claire. Everyone at the Trust is thrilled for them—a massive congratulations to them all.