The start of 2023 has seen the publication of the New Years honours. Jenny Hall celebrates those who have been chosen for their work for maternity services and encourages future nominations.
Celebrating Maternity services in the New Year
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The New year of 2023 has come and gone (Happy New year, by the way), and with it the New Years honours list in the UK. This is the first list of the year, the second traditionally been on the late Queen’s birthday. It is yet to see when, or if, His Majesty, King Charles will confer such honours, as his birthday is in November, close to the New Year ones. We share with you those who received awards below:
Congratulations go to Julie Gough, long-time midwife at Ulster hospital who received a BEM for services to midwifery in Northern Ireland.
In addition, we congratulate Professor Marian Knight, Professor of Maternal and Child Population Health, University of Oxford who received an MBE for services to Maternal and Public Health. Marian will be better known as lead for the MBRRACE-UK national enquiries into Maternal deaths and morbidity and has previously participated in a Maternity and Midwifery forum festival.
The list of honours is published on the Government website for all to see. Scrutinising the list at the end of 2022 it is notable that there are few midwives or those connected to the maternity services who have been honoured this time, though there remain a number of NHS workers recognised for their contribution during the COVID pandemic. This could be questioned- is this a political statement in the current times, or a lack of submissions on the part of the NHS, at a time of extreme stress and austerity? It can take over a year for the awards to be agreed, therefore current recipients would likely to have been nominated in the midst of NHS post-pandemic turmoil. Around a third of all awards are due to public submission and is therefore reliant on us all to share. If you know of colleagues who have gone above and beyond for the maternity services, why not get their work celebrated? The link for the process is here. The system is not perfect, and needs an overhaul, (especially of the names), but it is all we have at the moment and recognition for midwifery is important.
Meanwhile, we also like celebrating the work of midwives and students, and for each festival have Trailblazer awards. Why not consider with your colleagues who you could nominate to be celebrated in this way? There is still time to nominate for the London festival, so do be sure to contact us soon.
Dr Jenny Hall
Editor
Matflix
January 2023