East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has scooped a prestigious award which cements it as a leading trust for infant care.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has been awarded the prestigious Baby Friendly Award and is the latest UK health care facility to gain recognition from the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Baby Friendly Initiative.

The Baby Friendly Initiative is a global programme which aims to transform healthcare for babies, their mothers and families as part of a wider global partnership between UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Trust began working towards the UNICEF Neonatal Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation seven years ago.

The journey has been incredibly important for the Trust to ensure it is giving excellent care and support around infant feeding and relationship building to families and involving parents as partners in care.

Sue Henry, Baby Friendly Lead at the Trust, said: “The accreditation stages included UNICEF assessing our staff skills and knowledge and the experiences of families.

"This has been in collaboration with the full nursing and medical teams, the midwifery teams, and our allied health partners.

"I would like to personally thank everyone who has made this possible and really values baby friendly care in our unit. I feel extremely proud.

“At ELHT, we set out to ensure that all mothers and babies are supported to form a close and loving relationship – whatever their choice of feeding method – as this is the best start for every baby.”

In the UK, the Baby Friendly Initiative works with public services to better support families with feeding and developing close, loving relationships in order to ensure that all babies get the best possible start in life.

The award is given to hospitals after an assessment by a UNICEF UK team has shown that recognised best practice standards are in place.

Upon receiving accreditation, Letty Ene, a Neonatal Consultant at the Trust, said: “Our own unit Baby Friendly journey proves how much has changed the Neonatal practice over the past decade.

"Recognising the crucial role the family plays in the progress and outcome of their baby, the countless benefits of breastmilk, the satisfaction of working in partnership with the parents have all been at the core of our vision and at the forefront of our efforts.”

“It has been my honour to join this incredibly devoted BFI team in ensuring that every single baby in our hospital gets the excellent baby friendly care they deserve.

"The NICU babies may start their life in a totally unexpected way, but a no less inspiring way – supporting them and their families in this unique stage of their life is nothing short of a tremendous privilege.”

Ruth Dawson, Neonatal Matron, said: “The whole NICU team have worked incredibly hard to achieve this accolade. 

"It has been a real team effort and a journey that has taken us along many different paths. 

"It has been exciting and heart-warming to see the journey that we have all been on, and ultimately this has impacted so positively on the care we can give our babies in partnership with their parents and make NICU the most positive experience it can be for the whole family.”