Our Neonatal Team has been recognised by global organisation UNICEF for the quality of support they offer to families and their babies.
The team has just met all the standards to achieve stage 2 accreditation in UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Initiative, which aims to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding and strengthen parent-infant relationships.
In their assessment summary, UNICEF praised the team for its positive approach towards implementing the Baby Friendly standards for neonatal units - and said that staff consistently displayed enthusiasm and commitment towards providing an effective training programme.
The summary continued: “Staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement Baby-Friendly standards to support parents (and siblings) to have close and loving relationships with their baby, promote the use of breastmilk and breastfeeding and encourage an environment where parents are involved as partners in care.
“The staff spoke with kindness and compassion regarding the support they offer babies and families on the Neonatal unit and should be commended for this,” it added.
Team members celebrated news of the accreditation this week with a specially-baked cake featuring the UNICEF logo.
They will now focus on moving onto stage 3 accreditation – the final phase in the initiative, which was first introduced to the UK in 1994.