Neonatal staff at Ormskirk hospital are celebrating after being awarded a leading global quality mark.
The hospital’s Neonatal Unit has been awarded Stage 2 accreditation from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Baby Friendly Initiative which demonstrates the team’s hard work in caring for mothers, families, and parents, particularly in the first few weeks of life.
The Baby Friendly Initiative covers three central standards of Parents as Partner in Care, Close and Loving Relationships, Breastmilk and Breastfeeding.
Teams are audited by UNICEF as they look to ensure that mothers and babies receive high-quality support from staff to ensure parents have close and loving relationships with their baby while also promoting the use of breastmilk and breastfeeding, as per the UNICEF UK standards.
Lynne Barnes, Acting Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Governance, said: “Achieving Stage 2 accreditation is a brilliant achievement. It means that Ormskirk neonatal unit has guidelines, policies and an education programme that complies with the standards of BFI. It also means that the staff education programme is working well, and that staff have adequate knowledge and skills of the three standards.
“I am incredibly proud of how hard the team have worked over the past few years to achieve Stage 2 accreditation. The team is dedicated to identifying further ways to improve and should be proud of the vital role they play in providing a safe and supportive environment for those we care for.”
The Stage 2 assessment consisted of interviews with neonatal nurses, medics and senior managers. They were asked about the knowledge of the three standards and were also asked to demonstrate skills such as demonstrating how to show a mother how to hand express milk.