UK MUM Awards 2025
Giving families an opportunity to say thank you to their maternity and neonatal teams
Charlotte's Nomination
for East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
Winning Categories:
- National Winner
Excellent care during the pandemic
Dr Rabia and her team kept me safe throughout my pregnancy when I felt especially vulnerable. I honestly feel like Dr Rabia went over and above for me, even looking after me during time off when she had her own family to take care of at home. Her team were amazing throughout too, and I could not thank them more.
At a time when all hospitals were under immense pressure and reacting to circumstances that they had not encoutered before only an outstanding department could have managed to provide care of this quality.
Charlotte’s Nomination:
When I discovered I was pregnant I was over the moon but also terrified. I was shielding from Covid at the time due to having a kidney transplant in 2005 and then lymphoma in 2018. I knew I was a complicated case and a high-risk pregnancy, and Covid just made it more risky.
I was really anxious throughout my pregnancy but when I had my first consultant appointment with Dr Rabia Zill-E-Huma, I instantly felt better. Even though we were both there in our masks, and I was on my own as my husband wasn’t allowed to attend, she immediately put me at ease and understood the worries I had. She assured me that she had looked after patients with kidney transplants before and would liaise with my renal consultant to ensure that I was looked after and monitored throughout. She didn’t flinch at my medical conditions and seemed so confident that it was easy to put my trust in her. We made decisions on my treatment together, and I didn’t feel like I was being told what to do. She understood that I knew my illness and medication, and she spoke to me like an equal. She did little things like let me have my bloods done on the maternity ward, rather than have to go and wait in the pathology room. These small things meant a lot to me and my family.
When the Covid vaccine came out Dr Rabia did extra research for me and showed me papers from America where they had given it to more pregnant women. She allowed me to ring my husband in my appointment so we could all discuss the pros and cons together to come to a decision.
I ended up going into labour early when Dr Rabia was on a week’s leave. I asked the doctor to text Dr Rabia and let her know, and within a minute, Dr Rabia was ringing the doctor to tell her the plan! That put me completely at ease then, knowing Dr Rabia, who I trusted completely, had set the plan out for the doctors who were at the hospital that day.
Luckily all went to plan and Theo was born the next day, happy and healthy! The midwives were amazing and the consultants were too. I could not have asked for more support. They were calm in front of me and completely professional, and it was only after Theo was born they said how happy and relieved they were. Dr Rabia checked in on me and Theo afterwards and was thrilled for me. She even got me involved in a campaign to get more pregnant women to have the Covid vaccine to keep themselves and their babies safe, something I was really keen and happy to do.
Dr Rabia and her team kept me safe throughout my pregnancy when I felt especially vulnerable. I honestly feel like Dr Rabia went over and above for me, even looking after me during time off when she had her own family to take care of at home. Her team were amazing throughout too, and I could not thank them more. This year, I was lucky enough to give birth to a second little boy, all under the care of Dr Rabia and her team again.
