Keeping our parents and babies together - Dudu Nyathi, BWC Spirit Awards Service Improvement Winner
Following our BWC Spirit Awards on 14 October, we had the pleasure of speaking with Dudu Nyathi, Fetal Monitoring Midwife at our Women’s Hospital, who won our Service Improvement Award. During the night, Sisa Moyo, Programme Director of the West Midlands CAMHS Provider Collaborative, presented Dudu with her award, congratulating her on the ambitious and compassionate attitude that she has displayed with us across 2021.
Her dedication to fetal wellbeing and surveilling has been an inspiration to many of her colleagues across the Trust and has resulted in a 90 percent reduction in fetal admissions. Dudu has been inquisitive and has taken initiative throughout the year with her aims to reduce term baby admissions to the neonatal unit; ensuring that she finds the root of the problems and keeps communication strong across the various disciplines at our Women’s Hospital.
Rachel Carter, Director or Midwifery said: “She is absolutely wedded to her subject matter, helping to change and revolutionise how we learn about the importance of monitoring, not just the machine and the outcome of the machine, but also the baby. We are seeing more babies born in better conditions, therefore not needing to go to our neonatal units and be separated from their mum and the partner.”
Through her efforts, Dudu has sparked many positive outcomes for the parents and babies who visit our Women’s Hospital by reducing neonatal admissions, keeping parents and babies together following the birth. By keeping parents and babies together to bond more effectively, this has been proven to reduce in post-natal depression and increase breast feeding rates.
Dudu has also displayed a meticulous drive for improvement by helping to increase competency and compliancy training across her unit from 78% to 97% aiding to drive a greater understanding of fetal monitoring to reduce the amount of admitted term babies. From quarter three in 2021, there were eleven cases which fell steadily to one case in quarter four as a result of Dudu’s hard work and ambition.
Dudu said: “I am extremely honoured to be receiving such an important award. It would not have been possible without the inspiration I have received from my senior colleagues, for whom I have the deepest respect. I sincerely thank each one of you for helping me reach a stage where I can proudly hold up this award as a mark of my achievement. Here’s to the future of continuing to improve outcomes for our women and families!”
We’d like to say a big ‘congratulations’ to Dudu on receiving the BWC Service Improvement Award for her outstanding and truly inspirational actions in reducing admissions in the Neonatal Unit. Her compassion continues to be admired across the Trust, along with her bubbly and approachable persona that keeps the unit positive throughout the more challenging times.