Our achievements

Posted on 28 Nov 2022

We are very proud of Debbie Sells, Ward Manager of Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s Margaret Oates Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) for being awarded ‘The Most Engaged Inpatient Reviewer 2021 – 2022’ and of our Mother and Baby Unit team for being awarded ‘The Most Engaged Inpatient Team 2021 – 2022’, in the recent perinatal quality network (PQN) awards. Also congratulations to our service users who won the PQN art competition.

Debbie received her award after attending the most reviews over the past year helping to review other mother and baby units.

The perinatal quality network (PQN) is a network of members that help to share best practice at a national level. Our Mother and Baby Unit is reviewed by them on a regular basis to ensure that they meet the national standards; this review and accreditation process aims to promote the highest level of care. The accreditation process and standards are extremely thorough and the evidence provided to meet this collected regularly.

We were also very proud to see our service users from our MBU win the PQN art competition. The theme this year was 'Hope and Recovery'.  The winning piece will be published across the front pages on PQN publications.

Debbie said: “It was fantastic to see our service users artwork win the award on the day, something they really enjoyed doing and did a great job with. It was also brilliant for myself and the team to be recognised at the awards. We are committed to providing the highest standards of care and working with the network to ensure high quality care is delivered across the country.”

Our activities co-ordinator, Emily Porsch, worked with our service users to create the fantastic artwork. It was created by five of our patients, their babies and their families. The background of the piece was created by the babies during a messy play paint session. Each mum then decided on a meaningful word that represented hope, had a photograph with their baby’s hands and then added a collage on top. The butterfly that acts as a centre piece was influenced by and created by a patient who felt that a butterfly was a strong symbol of hope (artwork pictured above).

Julie Attfield, Executive Director of Mental Health Services:

“I’m delighted to see our Mother and Baby Unit team recognised at a national level. They do a fantastic job supporting mothers with serious mental illness and their work with the PQN further demonstrates their commitment to ensuring patients receive the highest standards of care. Congratulations also to our service users for winning the art competition with their brilliant artwork.”

The winning artwork was voted for by the attendees of the PQN annual forum, which was a day at the Royal College of Psychiatry providing an opportunity for PQN members to meet and share good practice.