THE maternity team at Hexham has been rewarded for making such a difference to mothers’ lives.

At Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Building a Caring Future Staff Awards, the team was credited with the ‘Making a Difference Award’ from chief executive Jim Mackey.

It was the first time the award had been presented to a team, and not an individual.

The award was in recognition of the collaborative work the staff at Hexham’s maternity unit and community teams did to embrace the recommendations within NHS England’s Better Births to improve women’s experience of continuity of care.

Midwives have proposed they adapt to a team approach, providing opportunities for women to get to know the teams during pregnancy, increasing the likelihood that they will then receive care in labour from a midwife known to them.

The award was made at the awards during a birthday tea party as the NHS marked its 70th anniversary. Jim Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare, said: “In this landmark year for the NHS, it’s more important than ever to take time out to celebrate all that our staff have achieved over the last 12 months. Following the hardest, and longest, winters many of us can remember, it’s fantastic to be able to reward our staff for their unfaltering work during this period of sustained pressure, and throughout the year.

“At any one time, truly excellent work is taking place in our hospitals, in the community and behind the scenes and these awards are another way of us saying thank you.”

Among the other award winners were the emergency department at the Northumbria hospital and the trust-wide infection control team which were heavily involved in the response to one of the worst winters on record with outbreaks of flu and norovirus.