Charity funding enhances maternity training simulation

Each year, Northumbria Healthcare’s maternity team completes mandatory training to ensure midwives and medical staff maintain up-to-date knowledge and skills, with patient safety always a top priority.

To enhance the training experience, the team at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) made use of the immersive space at the Health & Care Academy. This allowed staff to take part in real-time simulation scenarios using equipment that closely mirrors what they use in their day-to-day work.

However, the team found that the Academy did not have the same emergency trolley used on the maternity ward. This meant the simulation could not fully replicate real-life situations, prompting the team to seek support from Bright Charity.

Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters, Bright was able to provide a new emergency trolley, ensuring training scenarios are now as realistic and effective as possible.

Alison Bommel, Practice development midwife, said: “First, I would like to thank Bright Charity for funding the emergency trolley. This has made a massive difference and has had a significant impact on the quality of our simulation training. The feedback from staff has been excellent.”

The positive impact of this work has also been recognised nationally, with maternity services shortlisted in two categories at the HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2025: Patient Safety Education and Training Award and Maternity and Midwifery Services Initiative of the Year.

More recently, the team has also been shortlisted for the RCM Training Award, with the finals taking place in London on 6 February 2026, further highlighting the excellence and innovation of the maternity training programme.