'Wonderful' midwife Julia awarded with Patient Hero Award
A community midwife whose intervention “potentially saved the life” of a patient who was 35 weeks pregnant has been presented with UHDB’s Monthly Making a Difference Award for May.
Julia Kirk, who works in the Coleman Team, was presented with the award by CEO Gavin Boyle with her colleagues present after a touching submission from a patient.
The patient described how Julia spotted her appearing breathless in the queue at her GP surgery and decided to refer the patient to the Pregnancy Assessment Unit at Royal Derby Hospital.
Further tests revealed that the patient had a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot gets lodged in an artery in the lung, blocking blood flow to part of the lung.
The patient wrote: “I cannot thank Julia enough for potentially saving my life. She has been wonderful from the beginning and is someone who is clearly passionate about her job and conscientious in her care.”
Upon receiving the award, Julia said: “This is a wonderful surprise! I remember this patient well and when I saw her, I just knew that something wasn’t quite right.
“I must say though that this award is for the whole team too, as I know that all of my lovely colleagues would have done exactly the same if they were in my shoes.”
Gavin Boyle, CEO, said: “What Julia did was really important, so well done. Her timely intervention prevented what could have been a dire situation.”
If you would like to nominate a colleague or team for a Monthly Making a Difference Award, please let us know.
There are four monthly Making a Difference Awards categories:
- Chief Executive Award – chosen by Gavin Boyle
- Patient Hero Award – nominated by patients
- Team UHDB Award – you can nominate your team or another team
- Excellent Employee Award – you can nominate your colleagues
You can send a 300 word nomination along with the name of the team or individual, their job title and where they work, to uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net.