A midwife at West Cumberland Hospital has been nominated for an NHS Parliamentary Award by Copeland MP Trudy Harrison.
The annual awards demonstrate excellence in healthcare and MPs can nominate across seven categories.
Janet Riley, clinical midwifery manager at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, has delivered hundreds of babies over the years, including the MP’s daughters at the Whitehaven hospital.
Mrs Harrison, who nominated Janet for a Care and Compassion Award, said: “Janet has demonstrated loyalty, passion, strong leadership, visibility and her drive to improve services are very apparent as she is a proactive advocate for women,” said the MP.
“She has strong resilience and has continued to remain positive and provide immense support for her staff during the whole period of uncertainty.”
Janet said: “I am very proud to have been nominated by Trudy for a Parliamentary award. Although I have been put forward for the award, I think kindness and compassion is reflective of all of our maternity staff across north Cumbria who are always striving to further improve our services.”
For the Wellbeing at Work Award Mrs Harrison has put forward North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust’s recruitment initiative.
Amanda Dunkley, the Trust’s head of attraction said: “We are delighted that Trudy has put forward our recruitment initiative for the Parliamentary Awards.
“Working together with North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has led to an increase in us attracting people to come to work for the NHS in Cumbria which is vital to enable us to develop and improve our services. For example, medical staffing vacancies at NCUH have reduced from over 31% to 11% in the past three years.”
Others the MP has chosen to represent Copeland in the national competition are First Step, which provides free talking therapies for adults across the county who need help with mental health problems in the Health and Equalities category; the Reach Out (Reduce, Educate, Assess & Care with Hope) dedicated service for delirium, the first of its kind in the UK based at West Cumberland Hospital and the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, for the Excellence in Mental Health Care Award; the Home First Team, for Excellence in Urgent and Emergency Care and Familiar Faces for Excellence in Primary Care.
In the Future NHS Award Mrs Harrison nominated Integrated Care Communities, which involves rapid response hubs and multi-disciplinary teams working together to provide seamless care across North and West Cumbria.
The MP said: “There are so many inspirational stories in the NHS and here in Copeland we are proud of the dedicated staff and services which provide outstanding care. These awards are a lovely way to say thank you and recognise the talented and caring employees who make up these services.”
The national shortlist will be announced on Tuesday, June 25.
