Staff profile: Valerie Whitlow

The nominations window for this year's OUH Staff Recognition Awards opened on Monday 13 January, including the Patients' Choice Award which is open to the public. Held every year, the awards celebrate the achievements of OUH staff and say thank you to those who go the extra mile.

We'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to some of our previous winners. Valerie Whitlow, who works in the Florence Park community midwifery team, was presented the Award for Compassion by Non-Executive Director Katie Kapernaros at last year’s awards in September. 

Commended for her "committed, dedicated, and tireless" work in supporting pregnant women from disadvantaged backgrounds, Valerie was recognised for her role in creating new systems and processes to better care for women, and for her work in supporting women who have migrated from East Timor (Timor-Leste).

Valerie said: "We get involved with very vulnerable families and try to help them in any way we can. I like the diverse ethnicity in east Oxford, finding out about the cultures that women come from, and helping people negotiate being in England, the NHS, and maternity services.

"We've got a huge population of women from East Timor who aren’t on censuses or in the statistics but are living in deprived circumstances.

"Until this year, they couldn’t use Google Translate to translate their national language. We had to find resources for them in Tetum – it’s been really challenging, but I like a challenge."

The Award for Compassion recognises exceptional quality, compassion and care to patients or services users, and when the person (or team) inspires, supports and mentors others to deliver compassionate care.

Her nominator said: "Valerie is an incredibly committed and dedicated Community Midwife. She works tirelessly to support women and their families and has created new systems and processes to ensure the smooth running of clinics and effective management of her caseloads.

"Through these systems, she not only makes work easier for colleagues, but also ensures no one is able to fall through the gaps of maternity care." 

She added: "Valerie really stands out for her tireless work in supporting and advocating for women from marginalised and disadvantaged backgrounds.

"She works a lot with women from the Timorese community, those who have migrated from East Timor, who face significant barriers to accessing care, including language barriers and poor health literacy.

"Valerie is constantly championing and trying to improve their access to care. She helped set up a special clinic in the community which has access to an in-person translator, making care far more accessible for women."

"Valerie is probably the last person to want to win this award, but I think that's why she deserves to win. Thank you, Valerie, on behalf of everyone who works with you at Florence Park, and also the women you care for your tireless efforts over so many years to champion people from marginalised backgrounds and often going unnoticed."