The European Foundation for The Care of Newborn Infants presented this award to the INHA in recognition of their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The INHA was the first global patient organisation to launch a campaign to raise awareness about the adverse impact of separating infants in Neonatal Units from their families. The campaign was titled “5 Minutes Is Not Enough”.

The award was presented to the Irish Neonatal Health Alliance in Jan 2017 by the European Foundation For The Care Of Newborn Infants.

The awards was recognised the achievements of the INHA in:

• securing the extension to the Neonatal Transport Service to 24 hours from a 9am to 5pm service
• INHA’s contribution towards the Model of Care for Neonatal Services in Ireland, and
• INHA’s success in increasing awareness of the role of the patient advocate in Research and Development.

INHA Director of Advocacy & Policy Making Mandy Daly was awarded The Best Educational Meeting Award at the Irish Healthcare Awards in 2012 for organising World Prematurity Day Neonatal Medical Symposium 2011.

The symposium was attended by more than 80 individuals with a special interest in neonatal health in November 2011. It was held at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and was the culmination of an 18-month partnership between healthcare professionals and parents to prepare and launch Ireland’s first benchmarking report (Positive Steps For Prematurity) on neonatal care.

The symposium helped to increase awareness of the importance of preterm issues amongst policy makers, politicians and the medical community and the benchmarking report heralded the beginning of the collaborative network between the many stakeholders in the neonatal field in Ireland.