Following a distinguished career at UCLH, Mr Anthony Silverstone retired from clinical work in 2016. As a clinician and a teacher, he has emphasised the importance of the quality of interactions with patients and their families, and he was always available for advice and support for junior colleagues and students.
Although he is not working in a clinical capacity any longer, we are fortunate that he will continue to stay involved in teaching and mentoring both at UCLH and the UCL Medical School. The Silverstone Fellowship programme was set up to further the values he championed at a time of significant change for the NHS, and for women’s health in particular.
On receiving the UCLH Chairman’s Achievement Award in 2014, Mr Silverstone said: “What has been really important to me is the doctor-patient relationship – looking after patients with care, being there for them and making them feel safe. Ensuring patients have a sense of continuity in their care and a sense of accountability from their doctor is a crucial part of that relationship.”
The Silverstone Fellowship will enable one person each year to spend 12 months devising and carrying out service improvement projects at the EGA Maternity Wing, to the benefit of patients and clinical staff.
The winner of the 2017 Silverstone Fellowship was Hilary Hewitt, Fetal Medicine and Screening Midwife at the UCLH Fetal Medicine Unit. Her project, which received £5,000 in funding from the EGA Charity, focuses on creating an electronic decision record for patients undergoing prenatal screening, to support informed consent and create a formal record of each patient’s preferences.