A mother has been reunited with the midwife who helped her husband when she gave birth to their daughter on the bathroom floor.

Sarah Hirst, 34, gave birth to daughter Matilda in March at home before she had time to get to Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Her husband Steve, an accountant, supported Sarah through the final stages of labour with the help of a midwife on the end of the telephone.

Now, the couple have returned to the hospital with baby Matilda, now eight months old, to be reunited with midwife Leanne Petherbridge.

Sarah, 34, said: “I’ve often thought about Leanne over the months and wondered if she ever thought about Matilda. You never know if these things happen all the time for midwives.

“Although we didn’t even know her name, Leanne really helped us and Steve was so calm during the whole thing.

“We just wanted to thank her and to get to meet Matilda.”

Sarah was two days over her due date when she started having mild contractions throughout the day on March 3.

By 6.30pm, they were coming faster and stronger so Steve called the labour ward at the hospital to say they were on their way.

However, the contractions started coming every two minutes before they could get out of the house and while Steve called the labour ward again, Sarah felt the urge to push.

She said: “I was on the toilet floor while Steve was on the phone again to the midwife and staff on the labour ward rang an ambulance for us.

“The baby was born in my waters so when I was first pushing, the midwife was able to talk Steve through what was happening and that everything would be ok and he told me.

“He was just so calm and he was relaying everything the midwife was telling him back to me.”

The couple’s baby daughter Matilda was born on the bathroom floor, with Steve catching her in a towel when Sarah’s waters eventually broke.

With Leanne talking to the couple on the phone, Steve went to fetch a hat and clean towels while Sarah cradled Matilda in her arms.

The ambulance arrived minutes later and took Sarah and Matilda to Hull Women and Children’s Hospital to stay in overnight for observation.

Sarah said: “The easiest thing would have been to ask for the midwife when we got to hospital but you get caught up in the moment.

“It was only recently that I got in touch with the hospital and they were able to check through staff rotas to see who could have been on shift that night. They narrowed it down and got in touch with the midwives on duty in the labour ward that night and Leanne remembered us.”

Leanne said: “It’s really nice to meet Sarah and Matilda and I’m happy I was there to help.

“Midwives are often called on to act quickly to help mothers and fathers during labour and I’m pleased that Sarah and Steve felt supported, even over the telephone.”

An operating theatre at Castle Hill Hospital has undergone a £450,000 upgrade to enable patients to benefit from the latest technical advances in healthcare.

New lighting, technology and equipment has been installed at Theatre 11 at Castle Hill, the operating theatre where patients with upper gastrointestinal problems undergo surgery.

Surgeons can now use multiple 4k high-definition monitors providing superior image quality during laparoscopic procedures, allowing more precision while the patient is on the operating table

Touch screens can be used by theatre teams while they are scrubbed to adjust settings, meaning more efficient and immediate changes can be made.

Smart lighting using LEDs has been installed which is more environmentally friendly and energy efficient, switching off automatically when everyone has left the theatre.

Rebecca Morley, Charge Operating Department Practitioner, said: “The new theatre provides a much more efficient environment and, more importantly, safer surgery for patients.

“The surgeons are able to set their own preferences on screens and they can still operate and touch the screens without having to scrub in again.

“A lot of time, effort and hard work has gone into the refurbishment of the theatre and we’re really pleased patients will now benefit from the latest technology we can offer them in their treatment.”

The organisation which runs East Yorkshire’s two main hospitals will change its name next year in a bid to attract more clinical staff and trainees.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, has received the official go-ahead from the Department of Health and Social Care to become Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust from 1^st February 2019.

Trust Chairman, Terry Moran, says the move will help to put Hull on more of a level playing field with other big teaching hospitals:

“The Trust delivers so much more than the essential hospital services everybody expects. We work in partnership with the University and Hull York Medical School to provide expert teaching and to undertake first class research and development to further advance patient treatment.

“When choosing somewhere to work or study, we know that medical trainees and other health professionals look at study and career development as part of the overall offer.

“While Hull has had a strong track record for high quality clinical training for a number of years, this is not currently reflected in the Trust name, and this potentially disadvantages us when compared to other regional centres.

“When competing with other such areas to recruit doctors, nurses and other health staff, it’s important that we make ourselves as appealing as possible.

“Changing the Trust name to incorporate our status as a teaching hospital and to reflect our strong links with the university will undoubtedly help us to attract more interest and hopefully more people to work in the city and help us care for local people.”

Professor Julie Jomeen, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull, said:

“At the University of Hull, we welcome the renaming of the Trust which demonstrates its commitment to learning and research and also reflects the shared ambitions and strong connections between the Faculty of Health Sciences, Hull York Medical School, and the Trust.

“For many years, we have been working in close partnership to improve the health of our region: many of our health professionals and medical students gain essential experience as part of their programmes of study at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital and make a valuable contribution to the health of our community. A large proportion of our graduates then go on to work at the hospitals post qualification where they build on the close links they have already forged there to develop as outstanding practitioners across many specialities as well as undertaking high-calibre research, which positively influences the health of our region.

“The University’s life-changing research and the nurses, doctors, midwives, operating department practitioners, paramedics and allied health professionals we train in partnership with the Trust are making a real difference to patients.

“Our commitment to the Trust is underpinned by the new simulated training facilities in the Allam Medical Building at the University which ensure that all our graduates learn in the best environments and are fully-prepared for clinical practice.”

Professor Una Macleod, Dean of Hull York Medical School says:

“Since Hull York Medical School was established we have been working with Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to ensure we respond to local workforce needs and equip our students with the knowledge and skills they will need to deliver high quality patient centred care.

“From 2019 we will be training an additional 90 doctors per year, many of whom will train and work within the Trust – helping to build a sustainable workforce in the area. We welcome the renaming and believe it will ensure visibility of our joint commitment to inspiring future medical and other healthcare professionals and ensure we attract the very best medical professionals to this region.”

The Trust consulted with a range of partners including Clinical Commissioning Groups, local authorities, Hull York Medical School and the University of Hull on the proposal to change its name, and received strong support.

The formal name change will go ahead on 1^st February 2019, and a group within the Trust is now working to prepare for the changeover. Members of the public will start to see the new logo being used online and in electronic documentation from 1^st February, however costs will be kept to a minimum as far as possible with signage, stationery etc. largely being updated on a rolling basis or as and when items need replacing.

A man from Kirk Ella who suffered a huge bleed on the brain returned to Hull Royal Infirmary today to present a £25,000 thank you.

Stephen Foster suffered an aneurysm while playing golf in January 2015 and underwent surgery at the hands of Mr Bahl and Mr Kounin.  Stephen then spent time in intensive care before being cared for in other parts of the Trust including wards 4 and 40, ward 29 at Castle Hill, and ophthalmology.

Stephen says:

“The NHS has been brilliant, I’ve never known care like it so it was important to me to be able to give something back.

“We decided to hold a function which included an auction, a silent auction, and a tombola at the Country Park Inn in Hessle. There was also a walk over the Humber Bridge. I wanted to raise £10,000 but in the end, we managed to raise £25,000 which is much more than I could ever have hoped for.”

Mr Anuj Bahl, consultant neurosurgeon, says:

“We’re really grateful to Stephen for his donation. The money will be split between the neurosurgical team, where it will be spent on specialist equipment, and the ophthalmology team who gave Stephen a lot of help and support with his blurred vision.

“It’s been a long road, but looking at the recovery Stephen has made now, it just goes to show just how much we can achieve working together as a team across the whole hospital.”

A couple who have spent the last 20 years fundraising in memory of their daughter have presented surgeons with yet another show of gratitude this week.

Ruth and Tony Knowles, from Sutton-on-Sea in Lincolnshire, have raised more than £161,000 to say thank you for the care shown to 22-year-old Emma Jayne before she died of a rare brain tumour in 1998.

The couple visited the neurosurgical team on Ward 40 at Hull Royal Infirmary earlier today to hand over their latest cheque from the Emma Jayne Memorial Fund. The cheque for £4,411,20 comprised sponsorship raised through the annual bikeathon, 10K run and 4 ½ mile walk which the Knowles organise every year in Little Cawthorpe, near Louth, plus proceeds from their yearly charity evening.

In total, Ruth and Tony, who were each awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2014 New Year’s Honours for their fundraising endeavours, have raised £161,063.49. This has been used to purchase specialist equipment and to support the ongoing care and treatment of neurosurgical patients at Hull Royal Infirmary.

The couple began fundraising for the trust after Emma-Jayne died of her inoperable brain tumour in 1998.

Emma-Jayne was working as a post woman for the Royal Mail when she started experiencing double vision and cold hands. She went to her GP and an MRI scan revealed she had a brain tumour.

She was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary in April 1998 under the care of consultant Kevin Morris and was found to have a rare brain tumour affecting just one in 1.5m people.

With the tumour too deep in Emma-Jayne’s brain for surgeons to operate, she received 35 radiotherapy sessions but died in December 1998, six days before Christmas and two weeks before her 23rd birthday.

Her parents asked for donations instead of flowers at Emma-Jayne’s funeral and raised £1,100, donating half to the GP surgery and half to Hull Royal Infirmary’s neurosurgical team.

When they attended Hull Royal Infirmary to hand over their first cheque, Mr Morris told them he was attempting to raise £12,000 for a spinal turning bed.

Determined to achieve something good in their daughter’s memory, the couple embarked on a fundraising challenge, raising the money for the bed through a series of charitable events including a bikeathon which has continued every year since.

They decided to keep on raising money for the hospital and, 20 years after the loss of Emma Jayne, they have raised enough money to pay for dozens of pieces of vital equipment.

Ruth says: “The staff on Ward 40 are amazing.

“We are trying to help patients who will never know us by purchasing what are known as luxury items.

“People knock the NHS but, as far as we are concerned, we cannot thank them enough.”

Neurosurgeon, Mr Chittoor Rajaraman, says: “Ruth and Tony have raised a phenomenal amount of money for us over the last 20 years and we’re very grateful for all they have done.

“It gives all the staff such a morale boost when we see them and see just how much effort they have put into supporting our patients and our work over such a long period of time.

“They are a truly remarkable couple and we’re incredibly grateful for all that they continue to do.”

For more details about the Knowles’ fundraising endeavours, visit www.emma-jaynememorialfund.co.uk 

Ruth is pictured above with Consultant Neurosurgeons Gerry o’Reilly (left) and Chittoor  Rajaraman.

Hull’s youngest hospital patients will help to remember those who gave their lives for freedom when the nation marks 100 years since the end of the First World War this weekend.

Red poppies have been attached to the incubators in the Neonatal Intensive Care at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital to remember the fallen during the 1914 to 1918 war.

Senior staff nurse Anthea Hebdon came up with the idea and staff nurse Elizabeth Ware designed the poppies which were laminated to meet strict rules on infection control before they were attached to the babies’ incubators with the approval of parents.

Anthea said: “These are the youngest people in the city and we thought it would be a nice gesture if they were able to support the Poppy Appeal.

“The babies have been born in a very special year and we hope this will be start of a lifelong act of remembrance for them.”

The poppies have been attached to incubators in the Red Room, where the most seriously ill babies are cared for, the Blue Room for those in need of high dependency nursing care and the Special Care Baby Unit.

As the nation marks the 100^th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the NHS is celebrating the first wave of new Veteran Aware hospitals.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the 24 acute hospital trusts accredited by the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance (VCHA) to lead the way in improving NHS care for veterans and members of the Armed Forces community.

Staff will be trained to be aware of veterans’ specific needs and make past and present servicemen and women aware of appropriate charities or NHS services which could help them, such as mental health services or support with financial or benefit claims.

The trust will also ensure that the Armed Forces community is never disadvantaged compared to other patients, in line with the NHS’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant.

Chief Executive Chris Long said: “It is a great honour to be named one of the first hospitals in the country to be recognised for our work to help service personnel, past and present, when we are marking such a significant anniversary in world history.

“Members of the Armed Forces and their families make huge sacrifices to serve our country and our staff are trained to ensure they receive the best healthcare we can provide.

“We will continue to work closely with the VCHA to ensure we uphold the NHS’s commitment to support the Armed Forces community.”

As a VCHA-accredited trust, posters will be displayed in clinics and public waiting areas urging anyone who has served in the Armed Forces to make themselves known to staff.

The VCHA was inspired by the heroism of Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse VC, a doctor who gave his life rescuing men on the battlefields of the First World War.

In 2014, orthopaedic surgeon Professor Tim Briggs CBE wrote The Chavasse Report on improving armed forces and veteran care while raising NHS standards and establishing a support network of hospitals was one of its recommendations. The resulting VCHA works closely with NHS Improvement, NHS England, service charities and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Professor Briggs, co-chair of the VCHA, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for these 24 hospitals and it is just the beginning. Every NHS hospital will be invited to join the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance and become Veteran Aware and we hope to have tripled the total number of accredited hospitals by the end of 2019.”

Lieutenant General Martin Bricknell, Surgeon General, said: “The strong partnership between the MoD and the NHS highlights our commitment to the through-life care of our service personnel and veterans.

“The Veteran Aware scheme is a fantastic initiative that will ensure the particular needs of the Armed Forces community are at the heart of their care.”

Images of the new ‘infirmary’ which treated around 6,500 army and navy casualties have been released to mark the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War One.

The new 220-bed infirmary, then part of the Hull Workhouse, was handed over to the British Government to receive injured military personnel from the front line after war was declared within days of its official opening.

King George V and Queen Mary visit Hull Infirmary on 18th June, 1917

To mark the centenary of the end of World War One, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is releasing photographs of a royal visit by King George and Queen Mary in 1917.

Hospital archivist Mike Pearson said: “The hospital played an important role in the history of the nation, long before the creation of the NHS.

“Trainloads of wounded soldiers and sailors were brought into the city and many of them owed their lives to the dedication and commitment of the staff who worked at the infirmary.”

The infirmary, built on the current site of the current tower block, was opened by Hull Lord Mayor JH Hargreaves on July 16, 1914. However, Germany declared war on France and invaded neutral Belgium on August 3, with Britain declaring war on Germany the following day.

Hull handed over the infirmary to the War Office at York on August 15 with the Dowager Lady Nunburnholme offering to pay for the building to be equipped with stores and provisions.

It was to be used to treat casualties from the military and navy with the East Riding Territorial Branch of the St John Ambulance Association Voluntary Aid Committee supplying nurses and staff.

The hospital started accepting casualties almost immediately and between August 1914 and January 1917, almost 2,500 patients, mainly soldiers and military personnel, were treated in Hull.

By January 31, 1917, Britain’s naval base hospitals were under intense pressure because of the number of casualties from the war at sea so the Admiralty asked that the hospital should only accept naval casualties.

Six large and six smaller wards were used to treat 204 men and 16 officers.

They were brought into the city on board Royal Naval ambulance trains as well as on scheduled services every Wednesday.

King George and Queen Mary visited the hospital, speaking to staff and patients on June 18,1917.

A matron and 12 trained sisters ran the wards with the nurses coming from the Kingston and Western Division of the St John Ambulance Association Voluntary Aid Detachment.

By the time the hospital closed in January 1919 following the end of the war, it had treated a further 4,000 patients.

Nurses have been praised for helping a wife be with her dying husband in his final hours on their 66^th wedding anniversary after they were both admitted to hospital.

Mary Bilton was rushed to Hull Royal infirmary in the final stages of cancer while her husband Ron, 89, was suffering multi-organ failure in the Department of Elderly Medicine.

Rosie Featherstone, left, and Ellis Howard

Realising Mr Bilton was nearing the end of his life, staff on Ward 90 organised for patients to be moved safely to other areas so Mrs Bilton could see her husband before he died.

She then spent time with her husband by his bedside, holding hands with the man she had shared her life with before he slipped away.

Sister Rosie Featherstone said: “We were determined to do everything we could so they could be together at the end.

“We know it made a real difference to Mrs Bilton that she could be with him and she was able to sit in a wheelchair at the side of his bed holding his hand before he died.

“We were all crying when Mr Bilton died but glad we could help them be together. Everyone on the ward worked as a team to make it happen.”

Mr Bilton was admitted to Ward 90 first and staff found out from his grand-daughter that his wife had also been admitted to the hospital’s Elderly Assessment Unit nine floors below.

Within 24 hours, Mr Bilton’s condition had deteriorated so rapidly, staff knew he didn’t have long to live.

They contacted EAU to see if Mrs Bilton, 86, could be brought up to be with him but there was no bed free on the ward.

(From left) Rosie Featherstone, Stacey Healand and Ellis Howard

Rosie sought permission from hospital managers and, together with junior sister Ellis Howard, arranged a five-way bed swap to bring Mrs Bilton onto the same bay as her husband.

She was moved into a bed as close as possible to her husband without breaching national rules on mixed sex wards.

After Mr Bilton died, Mrs Bilton continued to be cared for by staff on the ward but she died just days later. The couple, from Barton-upon-Humber, were buried together after a joint funeral.

Staff on the ward have now been nominated for a Moments of Magic award, organised by Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to recognise staff who go above and beyond their duties to help patients.

Stacey Healand, Senior Matron on the Department of Elderly Medicine, said: “We have a great team in the department who always put their patients at the centre of everything we do.

“We’re very proud of what the team achieved on behalf of Mr and Mrs Bilton and their family.”

School pupils from across East Yorkshire got plastered at Hull Royal Infirmary today.

Staff from the hospital’s fracture clinic welcomed children from Riverside Special School in Goole and Stockwell Academy in Hull to learn about the human body and get wrapped up in slings and bandages on National Casting Day.

The annual celebration, held this year on Tuesday 6 November, is designed to showcase the work of the cast room team who deal with breaks and fractured bones on a daily basis.

Gemma Constantine, nursing auxiliary working within the fracture clinic at Hull Royal Infirmary organised the day’s activities. She says:

“Hospital can be a scary place for children at any time, but if they end up breaking a bone, like many of us do during childhood, it’s important for them to feel safe and well cared for.

“The theme for National Casting Day this year was ‘Raising the Bar’, with a focus on training, education, innovation and fun. By bringing some of our younger patients in for a few hours, we were able to show them not only what happens when you break a bone, but to help them see how our team fits within the work of the wider hospital.”

As well as explaining the day-to-day work they carry out, Gemma and her colleagues also spoke to the students about the different bones in the body and how bones heal. Pupils then tried on slings, casts and bandages, and got hands on with the plaster of Paris used in casts to make their own Christmas baubles to take home.

Gemma continues:

“The best way for young people to learn about something is to make it enjoyable, and that’s exactly what we tried to do today.

“Behind all the fun is a serious message, of course. As we head into what’s set to be another busy winter, we took the opportunity to chat with students about the kinds of things people come to hospital with, and how they and their families can help us to help them by making best use of available health services this winter.”