TWO quick-thinking midwives at Russells Hall Hospital have been recognised with a national award after their intervention saved the life of a dad-to-be.

Midwives Julie Hughes and Tracey Jones received the national Cavell Star Award from Anne Groucutt after Julie and Tracey spotted that her son Sam Hutchins was clearly poorly when he attended a routine antenatal appointment.

The pair insisted that Sam see a doctor immediately.

As a result of their intervention, Sam, 24, of Quarry Bank, was later diagnosed with aplastic anaemia and mum Anne, a staff nurse at the hospital, says that without the midwives' actions Sam would not be alive.

Anne nominated them for a Star Award from the Cavell Nurses’ Trust and was delighted to make a surprise presentation to them.

Anne explained: "If it hadn’t been for the midwives, Sam wouldn’t be here today. They followed their gut instincts, and I cannot thank them enough.

"I was thrilled when I got the call to say they had been approved for the award.”

Sam, who is a chef at Hickory’s Smokehouse in Wall Heath, has been cared for on Georgina ward at the hospital and is now due to have chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

The award is named after Edith Cavell, a British nurse during the First World War, who is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides and in helping over 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.

In 1915 she was put to death by a German firing squad, despite international pressure for mercy. In 1917 a fund was begun in her memory and this is now the Cavell Nurses’ Trust.