Infant Feeding Meets UNICEF Standard   You are here: Home » News Detail

Your Healthcare is passionate about delivering the best possible standards of care to everyone who uses our services and we are justifiably proud of our Health Visiting team which has been recently awarded an Excellent Pass at Stage 2 of the UNICEF Baby Friendly UK initiative.

Baby Friendly UK, formed in 1994, is part of a global accreditation programme of UNICEF and the World Health Organisation which ensures health professionals provide parents with the support they need to breastfeed and to develop close and loving relationships with their babies. Stage 2 of Baby Friendly accreditation is all about staff training. All our health visitors, healthcare assistants, nursery nurses, staff nurses and all children’s centre staff are now trained in supporting breastfeeding and parent-infant relationships.

Kerry Radden, Infant Feeding Coordinator comments, ‘Public Health England, the Department of Health and NICE are just some of the bodies who recommend implementing the Baby Friendly programme to ensure the best possible care for mothers and babies. Your Healthcare is committed to supporting Kingston families and we want them to know that we will go the extra mile for them.’

The assessors picked up on the team’s genuine commitment to ensuring that mothers and babies received a high standard of care and commented that staff were enthusiastic and communicated with mothers in a sensitive and gentle way. The team will now work towards full accreditation during 2016. If you would like to see a member of the infant feeding team, feel free to visit one of the breastfeeding drop-ins that take place around Kingston throughout the week or speak to your Health Visitor. To find out times and dates please visit our breastfeeding page. There is no need to book an appointment, just turn up for some friendly support and advice. To find out more about Baby Friendly UK and related accreditation initiatives, go to www.unicef.org.uk/ babyfriendly.