Midwifery Lecturers Receive Top Award
Sally Boyle, Denise Campbell and Francesca Entwistle, the leaders of the innovative new midwifery programme at the University of Hertfordshire, have won the prestigious 2012 RCM Award, sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, for Innovation and Excellence in Midwifery Education.
The award comes three years after the first set of students enrolled on the first work based course in the UK that incorporates distance learning for midwives on the shorter programme. Two cohorts of students have now qualified on this programme and are now working as part of local NHS teams.
On behalf of the midwifery team, Francesca Entwistle commented: “We are really pleased to have won this prestigious award, the whole midwifery teaching team are proud to be able to work with their colleagues in practice, local women and students to ensure that midwifery education at the University of Hertfordshire responds to local women's needs and remains not only up to date, but at the forefront of its profession. Without this collaborative approach this innovation would have not have been possible, and we would like to thank them all.”
Whilst pre-dominantly based on an e-learning approach, sixty per cent of their time is spent in practice and the remaining forty per cent is spent on e-learning. Students are employed within two strategic health authorities across three local NHS Trusts - East and North Herts, West Herts and Barnet and Chase Farm.
Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, says: “This demonstrates that there is wonderful and ground-breaking work being done by midwives and I congratulate the team on having won this award.”
Following its successful inception, the spearheading programme is now in the process of being refined and further developed, through focus groups with clinicians and current students. The awards were held on 25 January at the Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden and were presented by broadcaster Natasha Kaplinsky. Denise Campbell and Francesca Entwistle accepted the award on behalf of the group.