Congratulations to one of Frimley Health's senior midwives, Kathy Franks, who this week received a Chief Midwifery Officer Gold Award in recognition of her outstanding work.

Kathy (pictured centre), the Trust's cross-site lead midwife for antenatal and newborn screening and immunisations, received the award from Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent (second from left), chief midwifery officer for England, at Wexham Park Hospital on Tuesday. They were joined by Kaye Wilson, regional chief midwife for the South-East, Frimley Health director of midwifery Emma Luhr and heads of midwifery Andrea Anderson and Danielle Eghobamien.

The service Kathy leads identifies women at high risk of a disorder during their pregnancy and any conditions that may affect a newborn child.

Kathy, who has held the post for five years, was nominated for the award by Emma Luhr who described her as “an excellent, experienced midwife who always goes above and beyond to make sure that the women who use maternity services at Frimley Health have the best experience in antenatal and newborn screening.”

She added: “Kathy’s attention to detail, communication style and leadership have significantly impacted on us progressing the services to be those of a high standard for our women and their babies.

“She has an exemplary ability to work and communicate across the multidisciplinary team, other NHS providers and agencies to enable the teams to work together to achieve such high standards.”

More recently Kathy led on maternal and neonatal immunisations, promoting health prevention to the women and babies locally during the Covid-19 pandemic.