Our Health Visiting Service has retained its prestigious Baby Friendly status for the excellent care it provides to babies and families in South Gloucestershire.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) UK Baby Friendly Initiative supports breastfeeding and parent infant relationships by working with public services to improve standards of care. Baby Friendly status is given to providers who demonstrate best practice standards.
Our Health Visiting team in South Gloucestershire has been re-accredited with the award – after first receiving it in 2020 – and has been encouraged to strive for the gold award in the next 12 months.
Sarah Grant, Infant Feeding Lead in South Gloucestershire Health Visiting Service, said: “We are delighted to have retained our Baby Friendly status. Our Health Visiting teams and Specialist Infant Feeding team are committed to continually improving how we support parents and infants to have a close, loving and enjoyable infant feeding experience.”
UNICEF carried out a rigorous assessment of the Sirona service, which included on-site visits as well as interviews with staff and parents about their experiences.
The Baby Hubs, breastfeeding groups and specialist provision provided by the service were highly commended, and mothers said they were grateful for the skilled support they received.
Staff scored exceptionally highly on their skills assessments and UNICEF described them as ‘warm, highly skilled and relationally focussed’.
Julie Sharma, Sirona’s Interim Chief Executive, said: “This is such fantastic news and a real testament to the skills, passion and commitment of the team to ensuring our children get the best start in life.”
Mary Lewis, Sirona’s Chief Nursing Officer, added: “This award recognises the service’s commitment, skills and compassionate approach with families. It reflects the excellent care the team delivers every day, and we are looking forward to going for gold in the next year.”
Sirona, which provides NHS and local authority funded adult and children’s community health services across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, leads the delivery of 40 Baby Hubs across the region, many of which are co-run with our council partners in each area.
