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Trust recognised by Baby Friendly Initiative
Our Trust has achieved the prestigious, internationally recognised Baby Friendly Award. The Baby Friendly Initiative, set up by Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund) and the WHO (World Health Organisation), is a global programme which provides a practical and effective way for health services to improve the care provided for all mothers and babies. In the United Kingdom the initiative works with public services to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding, and to strengthen mother-baby and family relationships.
Lynne Saunders, head of midwifery, said: “As a Trust we are always looking at ways we can improve and enhance the care parents receive. Many of our parents understand that breastfeeding increases their baby’s protection against a range of serious illnesses and reduces the mother’s risk of some cancers. However, some of our mothers don’t have confidence in their capability to breastfeed and choose formula feeding, or very quickly introduce formula milk.
“The Baby Friendly Initiative was an obvious choice for us as it offered constructive guidance in enabling staff to promote a mother’s confidence to breastfeed, provide infant feeding support for all breast and formula feeding women, and encourage parents as they develop a strong, loving relationship with their baby.”
Achieving full accreditation involved a series of three stage assessment visits to ensure that recognised best practice standards are in place at the West Suffolk Hospital before the award was made. The successful final assessment took place in July 2017. The assessment report said: “Mothers reported that the whole atmosphere at West Suffolk was calm and friendly. The team were very welcoming and all mothers reported that staff were kind and considerate, and that they were very happy with their care. The team achieved exceptional scores in this area.”
“We are delighted that West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has achieved full Baby Friendly status," said Baby Friendly Initiative Programme Director Sue Ashmore. “Surveys show us that most mothers want to breastfeed but don’t always get the support they need. Mothers at West Suffolk can be confident that their staff will provide high standards of care.”
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust would like thank the mothers who generously gave up their time to be interviewed and to the many others who were not selected for interview. The final word goes to one of these: “My other children are 7 and 8 and I didn’t breastfeed them, but thanks to fantastic care this time I’m breastfeeding and loving it.”
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