Maternity and Neonatal services at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust have been successful in the first stage of their ambition to achieve full Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation.

The Unicef UK (United Nations Children’s Fund) Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) 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 UK, the initiative works with health professionals to ensure that mothers and babies receive high-quality support to enable successful breastfeeding.

Walsall Healthcare was awarded its Certificate of Commitment that recognises that a healthcare facility is dedicated to implementing recognised best practice standards last year. Maternity and Neonatal Stage 1 BFI Accreditation was achieved in July.

Carla Jones-Charles, interim Director of Midwifery at the trust said: “This is fantastic news as we work collaboratively with staff, guided by the voice of our service users, to ensure excellent practice in the support of infant feeding and parent-infant relationships, to benefit all Walsall families through improved health outcomes.

“I’d like to thank our staff for their hard work, passion and commitment and know this focus and dedication will continue into the second stage which concentrates on staff training.”

Danielle Oum, Walsall Healthcare’s Chair and Baby Friendly Guardian, added: “This is such an important initiative for our trust as we work with partners across the borough to both support and inform parents, families and carers so that together we can help our next generation to thrive.

“I would echo Carla’s appreciation to our staff for their enthusiasm and know from those who have done their training so far that they are really invested in this which gives our organisation confidence going into the second stage of accreditation.”