Spectrum staff triumphed at Tuesday’s NEPACS Ruth Cranfield Awards.
Each year, the charity NEPACS recognises prison staff, probation/CRC staff, the voluntary sector, and prison healthcare professionals, highlighting the work of exceptional individuals and/or innovative good practice.
This year’s Ruth Cranfield Awards was held on 27th September at The Riverside, Durham Cricket Ground.
Nikki Barker, a specialist midwife at HMPYOI Low Newton, won a top accolade for her exemplary work. Joining Spectrum during the pandemic (and having never worked in a secure environment before), Nikki hit the ground running and brought fresh eyes to the role. Among the innovations she has overseen so far are special training for staff to support pregnancies, extra support for applications to Mother & Baby Units, and help for those mothers who are separated from their babies – including the creation of memory boxes.
Above all, Nikki has made continuity of care a core feature; Low Newton’s Specialist Midwife Service now provides the basis for a new service specification to be rolled out across all of the female estates.
Nikki said, “Winning the Ruth Cranfield Award was amazing; it is great to be recognised for the work I am doing at HMP Low Newton. I always feel privileged to work with amazing pregnant/postnatal women who have had huge amounts of trauma in their life – the women I look after welcome me into their lives and many start to trust professionals again. I can’t thank Angela Star enough for recognising and believing in me, but it would not be possible without the support of our Governor Rob Young, Kim Hogg (Head of Healthcare) and all the team who assist me within Low Newton”.
Angela Star, Nursing and Quality Manager (Health & Justice Commissioning Team) at NHS England, was behind Nikki’s nomination. She said, “Nikki has continued to improve the service and ensure individualised care for each woman she meets.”
Also recognised at the award ceremony, with Certificates of Excellence, were the Psychologically Informed Planned Environments unit (PIPE) at HMP Low Newton, the Integrated Support Unit (ISU) at HMP Durham, Claire Reed (Spectrum’s Regional DART Lead), HMP Holme House for their Buvidal project, and the DART team at HMP Northumberland.
Congratulations to all the winners for their hard work!
