A major study by Healthwatch Isle of Wight into local maternity services has won the watchdog body a national award.
The work, which has led to changes in the way local maternity services are delivered on the Island, won the award for best stakeholder engagement at the national Healthwatch Network Awards of Achievement 2014.
Healthwatch locality manager Gretel Ingham joined Sara Ellis, community outreach and engagement officer, to receive the award at Healthwatch’s annual conference in Reading last Thursday (3rd July).
The national Healthwatch annual awards are held to recognise the individuals and teams across the network who have demonstrated exceptional impact within local communities.
Gretel said:
“We were delighted to receive this award which is down to the contributions of all those mothers who took part in the survey.
“We set out to reach as many new mothers as possible to ensure the survey was meaningful and reflected their real experiences, both good and bad. We were helped enormously by the support of the Island’s network of Children’s Centres and other groups so this award is very much for them too.”
Jane Mordue, Healthwatch England Committee Member and presenter of the Healthwatch Award for Stakeholder Engagement, said:
“We were really impressed with the team’s outreach programme, in particular their work with eight of the Isle of Wight’s children centres to find out what parents and children thought about local services to really understand some of the issues facing families. The project was incredibly successful, creating a powerful data set to present issues to local commissioners and providers.”
Photographed L-R: Gretel Ingham, Sara Ellis and Dr Katherine Rake OBE, Chief Executive of Healthwatch England
