University of Bradford student wins national scholarship award for Outstanding Student Midwife

The awards, now in its 4th year, are especially poignant as 2015 marks 100 years since the execution of Edith Cavell in German-occupied Belgium. Held at Fishmongers Hall in London, the event honours 8 winners and 8 runners up who shone through several hundred of their peers.

In a letter written to support the centenary appeal, HRH the Princess Royal said: “Cavell Nurses’ Trust do vital work each year in supporting nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants ensuring that Edith Cavell’s legacy of caring and learning lives on.”

Nada Abdul-Majid, a third year Midwifery student at the University of Bradford, has won the Cavell Nurses' Trust Scholarship Award, and is set to undertake a placement in Ghana with the scholarship prize.

This prestigious national award recognises the enthusiasm and determination of students to improve the birth experience, and sustained commitment to advancing the profession.

Nada has achieved excellent 1st class grades throughout her time at the University and excelled in practice placements. However, it is her commitment to extra-curricular activities that made her the outstanding candidate for the scholarship award.

Nada is passionate about supporting women from diverse backgrounds, and has been volunteering with the Maternity Stream of the City of Sanctuary, a Leeds based organisation working with asylum seeking and refugee women who are pregnant or have young children. Nada’s role with the City of Sanctuary is to engage with the women to improve their English and build positive relationships, interviewing the women about their personal experiences of arriving and living in the UK, and their experiences of accessing maternity care.

Her work with City of Sanctuary has inspired Nada to pursue a career as a specialist BME midwife in the future, having formed close relationships with the women she has met.

The scholarship award fund from Cavell Nurses Trust will enable Nada to undertake a three week elective placement in Ghana. She will spend two weeks in the maternity unit of a large government run hospital and a week in a village to see how maternity care is provided in a community setting. Here she will be able to gain a deeper insight into cultural childbirth practices, building on the knowledge developed through her academic and volunteer work to date. Nada hopes this will enhance her cultural competence, and the quality of care that she can provide as a midwife in the UK seeking to work with diverse ethnic groups.

Nada comments “I am absolutely thrilled that I have won the prestigious 2015 Cavell Award for ‘Outstanding Student Midwife.’ I am extremely grateful to the Cavell Nurses’ Trust for granting me the opportunity to do an elective placement abroad to develop my practice and provide the best ‘woman centred’ midwifery care to all women.”

“As a midwifery student, the highlight of my studies so far has been having the opportunity to support a variety of women and their families in what can be the most poignant time of their lives. It is a real privilege to support women throughout the childbearing continuum and empower them to make decisions about their own care. For me, there is no better feeling than forming meaningful relationships with women and their families and being there to witness new life being brought into the world!”

HRH The Princess Royal will be involved in the awards for a second year in her role as President of the Trust’s Edith Cavell centenary appeal. Prizes include funding for study abroad and laptops; previous winners have delivered health promotion in Peru and investigated mental health services for Aboriginal people in Australia.

Cavell Nurses’ Trust gives welfare support to nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants and students experiencing financial or personal hardship, often because of illness, domestic abuse, disability, working poverty and older age.

Cavell Nurses’ Trust CEO Steve Charlton says: “In the last year Cavell Nurses’ Trust helped over 1,100 people with over 7,100 years combined service to the public.

“I’d like to congratulate Nada Abdul-Majid. This year’s awards build on our commitment to be here for Nurses by celebrating excellence and leadership. These are qualities Edith Cavell demonstrated by caring for soldiers on both sides of WW1 and by helping 200 Allied soldiers reach freedom, actions which would lead to her execution by firing squad.”

The judging panel for the awards included representatives from the Welsh Government, RCN Foundation, and academic institutions, Kings College London, University of the West of England, University of Nottingham, and Oxford Brookes University.

To find out more about Cavell Nurses’ Trust, included the campaigns and events of the centenary appeal sign up at www.cavellnursestrust.org/sign-up