Maternity staff far from blue over excellence award
BABIES will enter a bright, clean, new world at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital after an audit found it had excellent standards.
Local maternity services have secured the coveted Blue-level Safe, Clean and Personal Everytime status following three years of successful ‘Scape’ audits.
Chief Nurse Professor Juliet Beal said all the team’s hard work had paid off.
‘I’m really really proud of the team,’ she said.
‘There are 14 standards in total that we’ve all had to work hard to achieve and maintain and we’ve done extremely well as a team to have achieved them – we always knew we could and would but to be recognised for it is a great thing for us.’
Scape is a nationally-recognised independent audit which looks at a wide range of care criteria including the environment, leadership, safety and service user engagement.
Medical wards and departments must meet Scape standards for three years in a row to be awarded Blue status, which signifies an excellent standard for service users and staff.
In the case of Loveridge Ward, the audit team were particularly impressed with the organisation of the maternity service and the enthusiasm of the team.
Staff on the ward said they were extremely proud of the status because it demonstrated the dedication of everyone involved in achieving it. ‘We should be front page news,’ said midwifery team member Katie Roper.
‘We’re that happy to have achieved it, everyone has shared the load and even other hospital wards have taken some of the methods we’ve used to their areas – and this includes incentives for new staff that are new to the island, like taking them round the island, setting up a shop and helping them with their housing licence and tax coding. We’re very welcoming to everyone – new mums, babies and staff.’
Users of the service said they were pleased to hear of the status.
‘We are delighted with the news that our Maternity Services have been awarded the Blue Scape status,’ said Bailiwick Maternity Voices chairwoman Rachel Le Prevost.
‘Service user feedback has highlighted the care being received is of an excellent standard.
‘Congratulations must go to all members of the Maternity Services team and thank you for all your hard work and dedication.’
