2024 Winner
Agnes Nisbett
Kind-hearted midwife who devoted her life to helping grieving parents after experiencing the tragedy of stillbirth herself.
When Agnes Nisbett went through the heartbreak of stillbirth in 1973, her tiny son was quickly wrapped up by a midwife to be taken away, in accordance with the usual practice at the time – until Agnes stopped her.
A devastated Agnes asked if she could see her baby, and although her midwife was shocked at the request, she brought the infant to her, giving Agnes a precious memory of her son John.
“That was not done then,” says Agnes. “I’d delivered stillbirths myself then whisked them out of the room. But when it happened to me I just needed to see my child. I got to look at him, to hold him – and that was momentous for me.” When she later returned to work, Agnes, Leicester’s first black nursing officer, set out to make a change, going on to pioneer the Born Whilst Sleeping programme at Leicester Royal Infirmary.
She set aside a room for women who’d experienced stillbirth, providing them with a sanctuary to grieve away from other mums and their newborns on the main maternity ward – something she hadn’t had herself. Agnes, 87, explains: “I was put in the end bed on a ward of 40, among all these women and babies.
“I remember waking up screaming in the night because the reality hit me. “When I became a team leader with a budget, we started. I just thought we had to have somewhere for these mothers.”
As well as the dedicated room, which is still at the heart of the hospital today, Agnes got clothes for the babies and organised midwifes to take photographs and palm prints to serve as treasured keepsakes.
Until her retirement in 2004, Agnes, who came to Britain from St Kitts and Nevis as part of the Windrush Generation in 1959, continued to make time for women who had experienced stillbirth, helping many to navigate those dreadful days as the weight of their loss hit home.
Agnes, who has two other children and four grandchildren, says: “I believe God has blessed me in abundance because I have given the best I could to every woman I looked after.
“I have got countless letters of thanks for my care, even the sadness as well – but there have been many joys in my career. “I remember my dad telling me that his mum, my grandmother, was a midwife in Nevis and that inspired me. “I sometimes think I was born to be a midwife. “I feel fantastic about winning a Pride of Britain award but, really, I’ve always just wanted to give everyone the best of myself.”