As we enter a new year I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff, volunteers and governors for their hard work and commitment to Liverpool Women's over the past 12 months.
We have had some real challenges at times as we have prepared for a much tougher financial outlook over the next few years and have also embraced a much more rigorous approach to governance within the organisation.
Although tough at times, I remain convinced that these changes are necessary to ensure we position ourselves well to continue to be a leading provider of Women's services in the country. Myself and the rest of the Board of Directors do acknowledge and understand how difficult this has been at times for many working in the Trust but we are so proud of the great care our people give, even during the most difficult or personally challenging times.
We have also had many reasons to celebrate in the year and these were recently shared at one of our GREAT (Governance, Research, Education, Audit and Teaching) Days. We will shortly publish widely a communication to celebrate these many achievements but I have selected a few below to give you a flavour of the fantastic things that have happened within our organisation.
- Sue Thompson was voted Midwife of the Year by the prestigious British Journal of Midwifery
- We introduced our monthly GREAT day – giving our people dedicated time to focus on research, audit and education
- One of only four Trusts nationally to achieve both CNST and NHSLA level 3
- Reaccredited as an Investor in People
- 20 additional birthing pools provided for use by women in the community
- Recognised by the Carbon Trust for our plans to reduce carbon emissions
- National funding secured for research into post partum haemorrhage
- £20,000 donated to the Kitty Charity to improve neonatal parents accommodation
- Continuing to build the Liverpool Mulago partnership, supporting the development of high dependency care in Mulago, Uganda
- Worked closely with local schools to build healthcare career aspirations for our local young people and provided great work experience opportunities
- Completion of Phases 1 & 2 of the ‘Big Push’ upgrade to our maternity facilities
- Voted the top educational provider by trainee GPs
These are just a few of the many, many reasons to be proud of our organisation, our people and what we achieve every day for women, babies and their families.
But our people also know how to have fun and in December we held our annual Christmas Ball which is a fantastic opportunity for our staff to dress up and have a fabulous evening. It was great to see so many of you there partying until the early hours!
I would like to wish all of our staff, patients and families a very happy New Year!