Publish date: 14 July 2023
Public health midwife wins national award for supporting active pregnancies
Ongoing work at Northumbria Healthcare NHS 
Carla Anderson, public health midwife at Northumbria Healthcare has won the ‘This Mum Moves Ambassador of the Year’ award at the Active Pregnancy Foundation Awards 2023.
The awards highlight the leadership and innovation that has provided more opportunity for women to focus on maintaining a healthy weight and their level of physical activity, while building a community and supporting the health of their families.
Carla has delivered training to more than 250 members of staff, including trust and local authority partners. The trust has also supported the training of additional ambassadors including maternity support workers, physiotherapists, and health and wellbeing staff.
She began her training with the trust in 2009 as a staff nurse before later qualifying as a midwife and is proud to have been with Northumbria for her whole journey.
Throughout the years, she had identified a gap in the services offered to support women in their choice to continue with physical activity throughout pregnancy and decided to put a plan into action to change this.
This was supported by the Active Hospitals programme which builds upon the extensive work to improve physical activity of staff and patients.
Training was shared amongst healthcare professionals so that women would receive correct and consistent information about staying active.
Carla said: “Physical activity in pregnancy is something that isn’t formally taught when qualifying to become a midwife and the This Mum Moves programme is an opportunity for staff to update their knowledge.
“Women shouldn’t be scared to be physically active in pregnancy, and healthcare professionals should have the most up-to-date knowledge to support their choices.
“I’m delighted to have won this award as it reflects the hard work of the whole team. I have lots of ideas but it wouldn’t be possible without the staff delivering the sessions and everyone who has been involved.”
Jill Harland, consultant in public health at the trust said: “It is fantastic that Carla has been recognised for her commitment to supporting women to stay active throughout pregnancy and beyond.
“As an Active Pregnancy Ambassador Carla has embedded physical activity training into the maternity mandatory training programme which means we will be able to support more women with an evidence-based approach to being physically active during pregnancy.
“This is a key strand of our work as an Active Hospital and we are very proud of all the work that the maternity team has supported – well done indeed!”
Being active during pregnancy has many physical and mental health benefits and is generally safe. If you are pregnant and would like more information on physical activity click here. If you have any concerns, please speak to your midwife.
Media contact
Louise Alexander, marketing and communications assistant, Northumbria Healthcare