Zoe's Baby Hospice in Liverpool wins prestigious national award for exceptional care

Granada
Liverpool
Merseyside
WellChild Awards
Tuesday 4 October 2016 at 6:00am

Zoe's Place scoops national award for exceptional care Credit: Zoe's Place

Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Liverpool has been presented with a national WellChild Award for its exceptional contribution to sick children. It was presented to staff at the Dorchester, Park Lane, London.

It was picked from 100s of nominations from across the UK to win the category of Inspirational Health Team.

The Awards celebrate the courage of children coping with serious illnesses or complex conditions and honour the dedication of professionals who go the extra mile to help sick children and their families.

The hospice has provided valuable support to babies and young children across the North West, including those on Long Term Ventilation. They offer monthly breaks for families who care for children. At times of significant family stress, when families have found it difficult to cope anymore with the intrusion of staff in their homes and living with the constant worry and stress that their child may suddenly deteriorate, the hospice has been there to offer support with great commitment.

Flo Bergquist Head of Care, explains why the award means so much to them.

It was nominated by Liverpool WellChild Children’s Nurse Elaine O’Brien. She said, when she first worked with the hospice, staff were already supporting babies and young children with highly specialised needs, however they had never cared for children on Long Term Ventilation. Despite the need for one to one staffing and the massive amount of training and development required, the team at Zoe's Place committed one hundred per cent to make a difference to these children's and families’ lives.

I have experienced first-hand the impact of the compassion, reassurance and support that this hospice team brings to families. However, this support is also opened up to the professional team, as they always go the extra mile to help their local colleagues and pace the child at the heart of any situation. Zoe's Place Liverpool nurses have surpassed any of the expectations I had, and continue to provide a first class, compassionate and caring environment for all the children they care for. With hundreds of nominations received from across the country, the difficult job of choosing winners in all WellChild Award categories is given, each year, to an esteemed panel of judges. That panel consists of leading health professionals and others with an interest in children’s health and includes children and young people who face serious illness themselves. > The Awards, in association with GSK, are a perfect demonstration of WellChild’s commitment to helping as many seriously ill children and their families as we can and embody our aim of raising awareness of their needs.