Congratulations to the Maternity Team at the Royal United Hospital (RUH) Bath, who won the Most Innovative Team of the Year Award for the Prevention of Cerebral Palsy in PreTerm Babies Project (PreCEPT) at the 2015 New Year’s Honours Awards.
The awards ceremony was held in January at the Assembly Rooms in Bath to celebrate all that is good about the RUH. The Board of Directors are proud of the incredible individuals and teams that work every day to care for patients and each other and the ceremony is a way of congratulating their remarkable staff.
The award was announced by Deborah Evans, managing director of the West of England AHSN, which supported the PreCEPT programme across three trusts. Deborah said: “In collaboration with the West of England AHSN, the team has worked relentlessly to help adopt the latest research in this area into practice.
“The research shows that giving women a dose of magnesium sulphate when in labour can act as a neuro-protector for the baby’s brain, helping to reduce mortality and cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is the general term for a number of conditions that affect movement and communication. The condition can occur if the brain develops abnormally or is damaged before, during or shortly after birth.
“The team undertook additional training to understand why this change in practice is needed and what they need to do differently. They also devised safer clinical systems to ensure that magnesium sulphate is given in labour to women at risk of a preterm birth.
“With their dedication and enthusiasm, the maternity team has managed to go beyond the national UK average of giving this medicine to only 12% of eligible women, to a world-leading position of giving it in 88% of cases. This makes an indescribable difference to families and individuals.”
Find out more about our work to prevent cerebral palsy in babies.
Posted on February 3, 2016
