Princess Royal meets maternity ward staff at Cambridgeshire's Hinchingbrooke Hospital

Staff at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon were given a Royal treat this week – when HRH The Princess Royal paid a visit to the Maternity Unit.

The Princess Royal – patron of the Royal College of Midwives – toured the hospital’s maternity unit meeting midwives, Maternity Support Workers and other maternity staff, including voluntary and regional colleagues.

Director of Midwifery, Melissa Davis said: “It was a great honour to welcome The Princess Royal to our hospital and a wonderful experience to share with our maternity colleagues.

“Her Royal Highness has been extremely generous with her time, talking to staff, finding out about the maternity services the Trust provides, and understanding the important role it plays in supporting local families through their maternity journey.”

Along the way, The Princess Royal met the Trust’s, oldest serving member of staff and frequent visitor to the hospital’s maternity wards, Chaplain Roger Creswell. Roger turned 80 this week and was stunned to receive a verbal congratulations on his 80th Birthday from Her Royal Highness.

Six-year-old Felicity Cooper, daughter of Acute Service Lead Midwife Charlie Leggot, was born at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, and makes a regular appearance at Christmas time sharing gifts with staff and families.

It seemed only right, that Felicity joined her mum on the visit and presented The Princess Royal with a Spring posy, on behalf of the Trust.

At the end of the tour, The Princess Royal unveiled a special plaque to commemorate her visit, which will be displayed in the maternity unit.

The visit comes not long after improvements to maternity services at the Trust, which operates both Hinchingbrooke and Peterborough City Hospitals, was recognised in a recent Care Quality Commission review, rating North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, as ‘good’.

The Trust’s Chief Nurse, Jo Bennis, said: “I am extremely proud of the recent ‘good’ CQC rating our maternity services achieved, and it has been wonderful to showcase these improvements and seek a seal of royal approval for the fantastic work our maternity and obstetric teams have achieved.”

“We will continue to progress even further on our improvement journey and will work with our teams, service user groups, healthcare partners and communities to provide a high-quality maternity service for our community.”