NHS Tayside services are the first in Scotland to maintain a UNICEF Gold award. The authority’s Health Visiting and Family Nurse Partnership services were reaccredited four years after becoming the first in Scotland to achieve the prestigious award.
The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative is based on a set of standards for maternity, health visiting, neonatal and children’s centre services.
These are designed to provide parents with the best possible care to build close and loving relationships with their baby and to feed their baby in ways which will support their health and development.
The prestigious Gold award was launched in 2016 as the next step for services that are currently accredited as Baby Friendly and consistently meeting the Baby Friendly standards.
The NHS Tayside services are the first in Scotland to achieve the Gold award and successfully complete a four-year revalidation and maintain the award.
NHS Tayside Health Visiting and Family Nurse Partnership services were highly commended in the assessment report which stated: “NHS Tayside presents a collaborative and integrated approach to sustaining and progressing the Baby Friendly standards which is strategic, insightful, empathetic to the needs of the local population and visionary.”
Dr Emma Fletcher, Director of Public Health and Baby Friendly Guardian for NHS Tayside said, “It is fantastic news that NHS Tayside has led the way in Scotland and been the first health board to gain revalidation of its Baby Friendly Gold Award in our community services.
“My huge thanks to everyone for the work that they have done, and continue to do, to promote breastfeeding and the Baby Friendly standards, and to ensure families are supported across Tayside.”
The Baby Friendly Initiative, set up by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, is a global programme which provides a practical and effective way for health services to improve the care provided for all mothers and babies.
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