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The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) has been named Overall Winner at the Advancing Healthcare Awards Northern Ireland 2025 for a project aimed at improving emergency care for maternity and paediatric patients.
The award recognised NIAS’s “Narrowing the Search – Maternity and Paediatric Equipment within NIAS” initiative, which led to the development of a combined maternity and paediatric response bag, the first of its kind to be implemented by a UK ambulance service.
The project began after NIAS clinicians identified barriers in caring for maternity and paediatric patients during high-stress, low-frequency emergencies. Issues included equipment layout, accessibility and the cognitive load placed on paramedics during critical incidents.
Frontline paramedics worked with paediatric emergency specialists and service leaders to develop a redesigned equipment model. Prototype bags were initially supplied by CorrMed to support field trials linked to master’s research by clinician Orla Morrow.
Following extensive feedback and comparisons with other UK ambulance services, NIAS decided to combine maternity and paediatric equipment into a single response bag. The service subsequently ordered 300 units, which have now been rolled out across NIAS operations.
Judges at the awards highlighted several benefits, including improved clinician confidence, greater preparedness, more efficient patient care and strong stakeholder collaboration. The project was also praised for offering a scalable and cost-effective model.
Clinicians described the bag as “fantastic and very beneficial” and “invaluable in enhancing skills and abilities”, according to NIAS.
The NIAS Maternity and Paediatric Response Bag features an intuitive layout, colour-coded organisation, combined equipment for maternity and paediatric cases, wipe-clean infection control design and a high-visibility exterior to reduce the risk of equipment being left at incident scenes.
NIAS said the recognition demonstrates the impact of clinician-led, research-informed innovation on frontline care, with the bag’s specification now available to other organisations seeking to improve maternity, neonatal and paediatric emergency response.
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