Toni Starr has been a pioneer in the field of neonatal nursing, transforming it from a new speciality in UK hospitals into the well-respected career path it is today. She has shown unwavering dedication and commitment to ensuring the very best care to babies and their families.
She started her career in 1971 at Princess Margaret and Great Western Hospital where she has spent most of her working life. At the time neonatal nursing was a new speciality and there was little research or a body of knowledge. Toni has been instrumental in using data to improve care for hundreds, if not thousands of patients. In recent years, she has applied her data analysis and quality improvement skills to the field of perinatal optimisation – the process of delivering evidence-based interventions before, during and after pregnancy.
She was a founding member of neoPremQI, a perinatal optimisation pathway project in Swindon that became the award-winning project PERIPrem, which is now being implemented across Wales, and inspiring teams across the UK, Europe and further afield.
Toni won the Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Healthcare award at the 2023 Skills for Health Our Health Heroes Awards, sponsored by Unison, NHS England and NHS Employers and was a finalist in the 2023 Neonatal Nurse of the Year award.