Our new word-free picture book for expectant parents with learning disabilities, Having a Baby, has won the British Medical Association Patient Liasion Group’s Patient Information Awards, taking home the top Resource of the Year Award which recognises publications that provide high-quality, accessible and well-designed patient information.
The Patient Information Awards took place on 10 June via a virtual awards ceremony, with our lead author Dr Kathryn Hollins, an expert by profession, and one of our co-authors Scott Watkin, expert by experience, joining Beyond Words founder Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins to accept the award.
Dr Kathryn Hollins, our lead author, was delighted by the win: “We entered our book into this award because we wanted to share what we had created on such an important topic for people with learning disabilities, and we know how useful our books can be. We are incredibly delighted to have won the award because we know that such a fantastic endorsement will help our book reach many more people.”
Scott Watkin said: “There was nothing in an accessible format for me and my wife when we were expectant parents. We had to rely on professionals who didn’t always understand learning disability or know how to work with a person with a learning disability. This book would have without a doubt helped - I wish we had this when we were preparing for pregnancy.
Co-production is really important to me. We should be co-producing absolutely everything, whether it’s a book which should involve people from the start to the end of that journey, whether it’s in your work designing patient services, co-production needs to happen in everything. If you’re not co-producing something, it isn’t going to meet the needs - and that’s why this book is so amazing. Beyond Words is a leader in co-production.”
The judging panel commended our book as a “brilliant co-production between people with learning disabilities and those who support them, leading to this accessible and engaging resource. It is well designed to fulfil its aims to support people with learning disabilities explore feelings about pregnancy and childbirth.”
We are extremely proud of Having a Baby and the recognition of all the hard and rewarding work that went into producing it. Winning the BMA Patient Liasion Group’s Patient Information Awards will help Having a Baby be seen by many more midwives, professionals and people with learning disabilities, assisting in bridging the communications gap and improving the quality of maternity care.
Congratulations and a huge thank you to Dr Kathryn Hollins, Anna Cox, Milli Miller, Tessa van der Vord and Scott Watkin, our co-authors, and our fantastic artist Beth Webb for bringing Having a Baby to life.