In the summer of 2020 with the Coronavirus pandemic still gripping the country, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust’s maternity care clinics moved from GP surgeries to the Hospital and then set up shop at the home of Northampton Saints. The move ensured its dedicated team of midwives could continue to deliver vital maternity care to expectant mothers from cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, uninterrupted by Covid-19.
With Hospitals and GP Surgeries under pressure throughout 2020, the Club made several boxes within the Carlsberg Stand available for Northampton General Hospital to offer expectant mothers appropriate care.
And now the Community Midwives have collected a prestigious award from the Royal College of Midwives – with the Northampton General’s team awarded the gong for Excellence in Maternity Care During a Global Pandemic at the glittering ceremony last week.
The award celebrates those that have demonstrated excellence in providing compassionate standards of care to women, their babies, and families in the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic.
A total of 15 midwives were based at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens from June 2020 through to March 2021 and Community Midwifery Matron, Anne Richley, was delighted to see the adaptability and tenacity of her team rewarded in this way.
“We feel incredibly honoured to have been given this award,” she said.
“As a group, we were committed to providing safe care to our mothers through the pandemic and we were grateful to Northampton Saints for giving us the space to carry on doing that.
“We thoroughly enjoyed the ten months we spent at Saints and our thanks must go to the staff at the Club who were pivotal in making sure that everything ran smoothly while we were based at the stadium.”
