Dr Helen Gbinigie won a national award for a programme that has trained 1,200 NHS staff to spot jaundice in darker skin. An HSJ final follows on 19 November.

A consultant at Medway Maritime Hospital has won a national award for improving how jaundice is spotted and treated in babies with darker skin tones.

Dr Helen Gbinigie works on the hospital’s Oliver Fisher Neonatal Unit in Gillingham. She won the Inclusive Leader of the Year (Strategic / System Impact) category at the National B.A.M.E Health and Care Awards 2026, Medway NHS Foundation Trust said.

What the programme has done

She created and leads the Jaundice in Darker Skin Tone Babies Programme. The trust says it has so far trained:

  • more than 1,200 healthcare professionals
  • across more than 80 NHS organisations in the UK

She was among 140 individuals and teams shortlisted in 19 categories.

The judges said the work “translated a clearly identified health inequality into sustained national change in neonatal care”.

Dr Gbinigie said: “I am honoured to have won the award. Creating long-term change requires joint working, compassion and a shared commitment to equity.”

Why it matters

Dr Gbinigie has said jaundice affects six in 10 babies born at term, and eight in 10 born prematurely. It shows as yellowing on paler skin and is easily treated if caught early.

It can look different on darker skin. She says that makes it harder to detect and raises the risk of a delayed diagnosis.

Two more chances for the hospital

The same programme is a finalist for the NHS Race Equality award at the HSJ Awards 2026. So is the hospital’s Virtual Hospital service, in the Acute Sector Innovation of the Year category.

The Virtual Hospital now runs as a 150-bed service, 24 hours a day. It began in the pandemic as a daytime “hospital at home” service for up to 30 patients.

The trust says more than 1,300 entries were received and 231 reached the shortlist. Winners are announced in London on Thursday 19 November.

Separately, the trust’s Chief Nursing Officer, Evonne Hunt, has won the Nursing Excellence category at the Black Healthcare Awards, run by the Caribbean and African Health Network.

What it means for you

If you have a new baby, the NHS guidance on jaundice says yellowing can be harder to see on black or brown skin. It suggests looking at:

  • the whites of the eyes
  • under the tongue or inside the cheeks
  • the skin, in bright light or sunlight

Ask for an urgent GP or midwife appointment, or call 111, if your baby is over 24 hours old and you think they have jaundice.

Call 999 or go to A&E if a baby with jaundice is sleepier than normal or hard to wake, is not feeding, or is floppy or stiff. The NHS page has the full list of warning signs.