Maternity and antenatal services at UHNM receive Unicef award re-accreditation

Maternity and antenatal services at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) have received international recognition for their work to increase breastfeeding rates and improve care for babies and their families.

Teams at the Royal Stoke University Hospital’s Maternity Centre and County Hospital, Stafford, have been awarded Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) re-accreditation. 

As part of the re-accreditation process, which takes place every three to five years, staff across the Maternity Centre, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and County Hospital were assessed on their skills and knowledge on infant feeding, and families interviewed on their experiences of care. 

Aimee Hodgetts, midwife and infant feeding lead at UHNM said: “I am delighted that we have maintained and improved standards in infant feeding to receive this prestigious re-accreditation through an external audit on the department. Lots of hard work has gone into this, especially after covid, and our staff have worked really hard to maintain these standards. 

“We were marked on the antenatal conversations on feeding such as how women can bond with their bump, building close, loving relationships with their baby, how to get breast feeding off to a good start and the values of breast milk.  

“We’ve also done really well on the skin-to-skin delivery standard, meaning that all women and families who come through our service are offered skin to skin which is routine at UHNM. This is good for baby to help regulate temperature, heart rate and breathing.

“During the antenatal period, families can access an infant feeding team-led antenatal workshop, and breast and infant feeding support is also available through our service.”

Aimee, who has been in her role for three years at UHNM, also led training sessions to ensure staff are trained to meet the BFI criteria. 

She said: “I’m really proud we’ve passed this accreditation. Three years into the infant feeding lead role, it’s the first time I have led this team through the BFI process. We’ve had the accreditation over 20 years at UHNM, and it was really important for me to further improve our standards of care. Our staff have done amazing during difficult and busy times.”