Imperial Healthcare Staff Step Out for Two Charities
Walk between hospitals celebrates International Day of Nurse and Midwife
More than 30 nurses and midwives with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust took part in a four mile walk to raise funds for the charities Imperial College Healthcare Charity and Standing Together Against Domestic Violence (STADV) on Friday May 9.
They took part in the walk between two of the Trust’s hospitals, St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington and Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in Shepherds Bush, in celebration of International Day of the Nurse and International Day of the Midwife.
Imperial College Healthcare Charity is an independent charity which raises funds for clinical research and healthcare projects that aim to provide better care for patients at the five hospitals of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and across the NHS.
STADV is a charity based in west London which aims to eradicate domestic abuse through transforming the way organisations and individuals think about, prevent and respond to the issue.
The event follows a two year project partnership funded by Imperial College Healthcare Charity and run by STADV. The study found that between 2012 and 2013, 62 of the 144 women (43%) who took up the support being offered by the independent domestic violence advisor (IDVA) within maternity services at St Mary’s and Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea hospitals were deemed as ‘high risk’ - those at serious harm or homicide from their partners or family members.
As a result, a new policy called Domestic Abuse: Maternity and Neonatal Operational Policy for the Identification & Support of Survivors of Domestic Abuse was launched in February 2014 to give maternity staff guidance on how to identify and support pregnant women and new mothers living with domestic violence.
The walk on May 9 was the third undertaken by Trust nurses and midwives. Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, divisional director of midwifery and nursing at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, says: " We are proud of the successes of our nurses and midwives in providing high quality care for patients, children and women who use maternity services.
" We would therefore like to celebrate International Day of the Midwife and international Day of the Nurse to acknowledge the contribution nurses and midwives make locally, nationally and internationally."
The walk followed the Grand Union Canal tow path, starting at Paddington Basin behind St
Mary’s Hospital, through to the edge of Wormwood Scrubs and onto Hammersmith Hospital and down Artillery
Road to Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital.
May 15, 2014
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