East Lancashire midwife honoured at national awards (From Chorley Citizen)

East Lancashire midwife honoured at national awards

6:00pm Tuesday 5th February 2013 in East Lancashire

AN EAST Lancashire midwife has been recognised for her work with pregnant women who have problems with drugs and alcohol.

Liz Maddran was nominated for a prize at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) national award ceremony, which was hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky.

She won the coveted runner-up prize in the Initiatives in Improving Public Health and Reducing Inequalities category.

The RCM awards celebrate exceptional achievement across all levels of the profession.

Liz’s role as specialist drug and alcohol liaison midwife sees her works with the women and their families throughout their pregnancy.

As well as offering help with drugs and alcohol she also links in with a range of other services including housing and education to provide additional help and support in all areas of their life.

The result is that very few babies need any form of withdrawal treatment and have good birth weights which means less time in hospital.

Liz said: “I was really thrilled to be nominated for this award and win the runner-up prize.

“We run an innovative and vital service to ensure that women who are pregnant and are in contact with the drug and alcohol services in Burnley, Pendle and Hyndburn don’t slip through the net.”

Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the RCM, said: “This year we have had a record number of entries for our awards and the standard has been incredibly high, so I congratulate Elizabeth and Louise and their team on getting this far.”

The winners were announced at the ceremony last week.