The maternity team have been commended for their care during their reaccreditation as part of Unicef’s Baby Friendly Initiative.
The team received the award following a rigorous assessment in November.
The initiative supports families with feeding and developing close, loving relationships, ensuring that all babies get the best possible start in life. Their evidence-based, staged accreditation programme supports services to transform their care through setting standards, providing training and personalised support, and assessing progress.
Extracts from the assessment report include: “The staff at The Princess Alexandra Hospital are highly commended for their hard work over the last three years in continuing to support mothers.
“Baby Friendly training has been maintained during the pandemic, which is reflected in the excellent results in staff knowledge and skills.
“It was evident in the feedback from mothers that a high percentage of mothers are very happy with the care and valued the kindness and consideration shown to them by the staff, and many mothers spoke positively about the maternity service.”
80% of those interviewed were very happy with their care, and 20% were fairly happy/neutral.
Feedback included: “My baby ended up on the Neonatal Unit and we are eternally grateful for the care there, everyone we have met throughout the journey has been amazing.”
Giuseppe Labriola, director of midwifery, said: “It is such an achievement for the team to be reaccredited – well done to all.
“UNICEF commended the commitment of the whole maternity team undertaking this reassessment, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.”
Sharon McNally, director of nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals, added: “I am extremely proud to see the maternity team recognised for their dedication.
“This is testament to our focus on providing high quality care that is responsive to the needs of women, pregnant people and their families.”
The team are continuing to work towards further improvements identified during the assessment, including ensuring that women are encouraged to express milk if their baby is admitted to the neonatal unit; increasing women’s knowledge of responsive breastfeeding, and discussing the importance of having caring and loving relationships with their babies.