Midwife Noreen Dunnachie, Lead Midwife for Diabetes at NHS Ayrshire & Arran, has just won one of the UK’s top midwifery awards for her project to improve the care for women with diabetes in pregnancy.

Well done to Noreen, who scooped the JOHNSON’S® Award for Excellence in Maternity Care at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Annual Awards Ceremony in London on 5 March 2019.
Her winning project was the improvement and redesign of the Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) Service to provide specialised, tailored care to all women with GDM. GDM is a form of high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy.
The project aims to reduce the impact of GDM by bringing women in for their routine blood sugar level test sooner, therefore identifying and treating women at risk of developing GDM earlier. It also includes one-to-one meetings and peer support at group sessions for women diagnosed with GDM.
A telephone clinic allows weekly reviews of blood glucose levels, which enables timely dietary changes without women needing to come to hospital, meaning they can continue to receive community midwife care.
Noreen and her colleagues have also been able to bring in diet and lifestyle advice as part of the project by collaborating with other health professionals, improving the long term health of the women. Pressures on maternity services have been reduced and, women themselves say it is having a beneficial effect on their pregnancy and the wider health of their family.
Noreen said: “I am thrilled that our gestational diabetes work in Ayrshire and Arran has been recognised at a national level for excellence in maternity care.”
“The project has been a great success. The number of women needing medication to manage their diabetes has been reduced with many women now being able to manage their condition with diet control only.”
“Thank you to everyone on the team who has contributed to the project and its success.”

Gill Walton, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said:
“This is a wonderful example of midwives identifying a problem, coming up with a solution and seeing that through to the benefit of women and the wider maternity service. And this is not just in the short term; but will have an impact into the future, not least on the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies. This is a well deserved winner and I congratulate Noreen and her colleagues for this important project.”