Dedicated midwife receives prestigious Chief Midwifery Officer Silver Award
A midwife who has worked tirelessly to support new mums and ‘put women first’ during the pandemic has been awarded a prestigious accolade.
Katherine Mabey, who works as a midwife for UHDB was nominated by her colleague Patti Paine for a Silver award and has been given the award today by the Chief Midwifery Officer, Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent.
The award, which was a surprise to Katherine, is a silver award which recognises performance that goes above and beyond the expectations of the everyday role that the nurse or midwife is expected to perform in their current role.
Throughout her career Katherine has gone above and beyond to help those in her care but her empathy really shone through at the height of the covid-19 pandemic when she did something incredible to help expectant mums who were scared to give birth alone during the uncertain time.
In the hope of alleviating any fear for mums-to-be, Katherine created two poems which reassured women of the support available to them from their midwives. They were titled ‘Behind doors’ and ‘pregnancy loss in covid times.’
Patti Paine, Director of Midwifery and Divisional Director of Nursing, called Katherine ‘an inspirational, dedicated and loyal midwife who puts women first.’
When nominating Katherine for the award, she wrote: “Katherine is a midwife, who has made an immense contribution to women in the maternity services in Derby and Burton.
“She is well known for raising morale and lifting team spirits not only in the direct birth centre team but also to the wider maternity team who will describe her as a ‘well-respected team player’.
“Katherine demands high standards, constantly striving for perfection and is an expert in the speciality, providing exceptional care and developing the future workforce.”
Upon receiving the award, Katherine said: “I’m in such shock – this as all been arranged very under hand – thank you everyone wow this is amazing!”
Chief Midwifery Officer, Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, said: “Never forget the role you play – midwives are never forgotten, you will always leave a mark on the hearts of families that you have cared for. Congratulations Katherine- very well deserved!”
Aswell as offering small initiatives such as ‘Maternity Good Egg’s’ and ‘Maternity Advent Calendar’ which highlight the good work of her immediate colleagues, Katherine has also used her strong leadership and her nurturing approach to work with senior midwives to develop the midwife NIPE (new-born and infant physical examination) programme at the Derby Hospital site.