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It was a pleasure to be invited back to host the Journal of Health Visiting Awards for 2017 again. This year it was at the Edgbaston Stadium on Thursday 23^rd March. The team had asked if I wanted to bring a guest so it was really good to ask my mum to join me. We had a leisurely train trip into Birmingham, checked into the Radisson Blu hotel  then had an excellent lunch in the newly renovated Holiday Inn bar and restaurant, The Lobby on Hill Street. As a treat Mum suggested we had our hair done and called into the hairdressers – Tandis – next door to our hotel. I emerged very curly!

After a quick change we used an Uber taxi to get us swiftly and cheaply to the venue. The room was set beautifully. (Photos are by Alex Deverill – see more here).

There was a quick sound check and the finalists, sponsors and guests arrived for pre-dinner drinks. We enjoyed a very good meal and eventually the main part of the evening, the awards, began. I am using the citations below for each finalist that I was given by the team at JHV for the event.

Firstly the Editor of the Journal of Health Visiting, Polly Moffat gave an introduction, then it was my turn to give a personal welcome.

I spoke for around ten minutes and combined aspects of the International Day of Happiness with their achievements for the evening as we were happy to be there! I wanted to set the scene as one of celebration and recognition for the finalists. This led onto announcing each of the winners. I knew how they were feeling as I had recently been a finalist at the British Journal of Midwifery Awards.

The plan was that each sponsor would announce the shortlist in each category and then the results would be announced in reverse order.  Each finalist would be invited to the stage to receive their certificate. The winners were offered the opportunity to say a few words. There were six awards:

• Innovation in Health Visiting Practice, supported by Home Start and presented by their chief executive, Rob Parkinson

Ruth Oshikanlu, Tune In To Your Baby – third place finalist

Ruth developed an initiative in response to client needs and to further develop the book she wrote in 2012, Tune In To Your Baby: Because Babies Don’t Come with an Instruction Manual. While working as a health visitor a couple of years ago, she cared for several women in the postnatal period that had experienced previous miscarriages or had conceived through IVF. She responded to the gap in service provision by designing and setting up the service Tune In To Your Baby: Pregnancy without Fear.

Infant Feeding Team 0-19 Health and Wellbeing Service – second place finalist

The team’s innovative project is designed to support the most vulnerable babies and families by providing a portable double electric pump for Mum to express breastmilk while with or away from her baby. This is the only scheme of its type in the North West of England and has created a positive working relationship between the health visiting teams and the neonatal staff.

Sylvia Jeffers, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust – first place finalist

Sylvia is a member of The Links Group, who are professionals working with humans or animals, who have a common interest in the connection between domestic abuse in animals and humans. Sylvia and a colleague in animal care attend local universities during Safeguarding Week to discuss the Link’s work, including the importance of pet assessment when visiting the family home.

• Contribution to Health Visiting Education, presented by JHV Editor, Polly Moffat.

Sharon Fernandez, Powys Teaching Health Board – third place finalist

Sharon has a passion for perinatal mental health and was one of the first managers in Wales to have her staff trained in perinatal mental health awareness. Since her initiatives, the profile of mothers and infants suffering from perinatal mental illness has been highlighted and addressed. Sharon not only uses the skills of her staff, but has also incorporated the third sector to ensure better outcomes for families.

Orpha Edwards and Ekaete George, Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust – second place finalist

Since their appointment, these two senior practice teachers have transformed practice-based learning within their Trust. They work with students and have supported qualified staff in teaching students and in their own continued professional development. By working together so well, these two senior practice teachers have provide an excellent example of the added benefits that can be achieved through effective collaboration

Karen Crees, Manchester Metropolitan University – first place finalist

Karen shows exceptional skills in her role as Health Visiting Award Leader at Manchester Metropolitan University. She consistently encourages students to share good practice, as well as questioning current systems. As a consequence, students consider ways to improve current practice throughout their training. Her approach perfectly role-models how health visitors should interact with their clients so students can see the benefits of this humanistic approach.

• Leadership in Health Visiting Practice, Supported by The Journal of Health Visiting and presented by Associate Publisher of JHV, James Demery.

Ruth Oshikanlu, Tune In To Your Baby – third place finalist

Ruth’s programme, Tune In To Your Baby: Pregnancy without Fear, aimed to plug a gap in service provision and involved services users in its design and employ evidence to promote the neurological development of babies and promote parental and infant mental health. She has delivered several university guest lectures to health visiting students and qualified community practitioners on the subject of parental-fetal attachment and how health visitors can promote it in prospective parents.

Sylvia Pamela Jeffers, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust – second place finalist

As above.

Sarah Parson, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – first place finalist

Sarah has brought together six desperate and divided localities under one leadership. She has instilled a passion for developing quality services but has ensured the team remains focused on data as well as quality. She has developed relationships with all of the six local authorities so she is best placed to passionately direct them to commission the service in each of their localities. She is committed to working with staff to develop innovating solutions to meet the local needs.

• Student Health Visitor of the Year Award, sponsored by Children and Young People Now and presented by JHV Board Member Jane Hanley

Bethan Murdoch, University of Stirling – third place finalist

Bethan’s drive and sustained passion to pursue specific activities and areas of interest in practice has been an inspiration for the team and her breastfeeding initiatives have been of real benefit to the community. In the current climate, Bethan is a brilliant ambassador for initiating fresh, creative ideas while exhibiting competence and applying an analytical approach to interpreting the needs of children and their families

Alison Grant, University of Stirling – second place finalist

Alison has shown great resilience throughout her health visiting training and brings fantastic interpersonal skills, time-keeping and evidence-based knowledge. She has been able to empower families to reach their potential and maintain their well being while being child-centred. Alison has received positive feedback from the health visiting team, who feel she is very approachable, respectful of everyone’s roles and keen to learn from all members of the team.

Alison was unable to attend so her award was collected by her colleague.

Heather Pointer, Wirral Community Foundation Trust – first place finalist

During Heather’s training she consistently demonstrated a full commitment to her personal and professional development. She sought to go beyond what is required, digging deep into all available information to critically explore the implications for health visiting, how she can use the information to develop her health visiting role and how the health visiting service can be improved.

• Health Visiting Team of the Year, kindly supported by the Child Accident Prevention Trust, and presented by Kevin Lowe.

Infant Feeding Team 0-19 Health and Wellbeing Service – second place finalist

The team has developed a Breast Pump Loan Scheme for premature babies, accessing funding from the Trust’s Innovation Scheme. Being able to effectively support breastfeeding women is a key component of health visiting practice, and enabling more mothers of premature babies to effectively breastfeed improves their health outcomes and reduces the risk of premature mortality. The process has also enabled health visitors to engage in a positive way early in these families’ journeys, helping to improve health outcomes in the long term.

Central Manchester Foundation Trust – Newton Heath Health Visiting Team – first place finalist

The team has transformed itself in recent years; and through effective teamwork and clear commitment to service provision offers families in Manchester best practice under what can be very challenging circumstances. The team has joined forces with a local perinatal mental health charity project and are working to embed systems to best identify local need and community cohesion.

• Health Visitor of the Year Award sponsored by Nutricia Early Life Nutrition, presented by account manager Joanne Goodwin.

Ruth Oshikanlu – third place finalist

Ruth currently works as an independent health visitor and Pregnancy Mindset Expert. She regularly shares her career journey to encourage other practitioners to be courageous and partner with their clients to develop responsive services in collaboration with service users and other service providers. Ruth is a Clinical Restorative Supervisor and continues to supervise and mentor colleagues all over the country, enabling them to look after themselves so that they can be better practitioners.

Miranda Walcott – second place finalist

Miranda has led the development of the Edge of Care service working in partnership with the local authority. This caseload is extremely vulnerable and complex, and requires a practitioner of strong emotional resilience and ingenuity who is able to build trusting, honest relationships with families who are wary of professionals. Miranda is a great advocate for families and the health visiting service and is conscientious, passionate and compassionate.

Sharon Fernandez – first place finalist

Sharon works in a rural part of Wales with limited resources. She is continually updating her skills and ensures that knowledge is translated to update her staff. Sharon’s commitment to ensure her staff are not only updated but actively participate in perinatal mental health initiatives will help to convince the Welsh Government that health visiting is vital in perinatal mental health and this may in turn influence the English Government.

After the awards many people declared their achievements on social media. The evening had a number of tweets – have a look!

Finally it was time to have a dance. A revival of hits by artists such as Whitney Houston, Gloria Gaynor and Abba ensured fun was had by all who still had some energy …

It was a very enjoyable evening and was an excellent example of some of the great work being done by health visitors in the UK. Many congratulations to all of the finalists and thanks to those who made the evening possible. Laura at MA Healthcare Limited did a great job!

Keep an eye on the JHV website to make nominations for the awards next year. Who do you know that is worthy of recognition?

Elaine 🙂