Staff come together to celebrate UNICEF Gold Award for commitment to mums and their babies

North East Lincolnshire Council’s Health Visiting team were part of a collaborative Northern Lincolnshire approach with maternity units at Grimsby and Scunthorpe, RDaSH (Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust) Health Visiting and North Lincolnshire Public Health colleagues. Both North East Lincolnshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council’s infant feeding teams played a crucial role in achieving the gold award.

The Northern Lincolnshire Baby Friendly Initiative Group was set up to support women, providing help and advice during pregnancy and post-birth around feeding and building a close and loving relationship with their baby.

Staff, including infant feeding peer supporters and health visitors from NELC, came together at the McMenemy Suite in Blundell Park, Grimsby, on Tuesday 10th June to celebrate their success.

Having started the journey jointly in 2009, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire have been recognised for working together to implement the programme in a strong collaborative approach with acute and community sectors.

“I am extremely proud that the service has attained the Baby Friendly Gold award,” said Janet Burrows, head of Public Health Nursing at North East Lincolnshire Council. “This is a great achievement and testimony to the hard work to everyone who has made a positive contribution on this journey. This wouldn’t have been possible without support from colleagues in North Lincolnshire and NLaG and the commitment of staff to provide high quality care.”

Melanie Hill, children’s health specialist lead for health visiting at North East Lincolnshire Council, added: “The Baby Friendly Gold award is the highest level of accreditation and celebrates excellent and sustained practice in the support of infant feeding and parent-infant relationships. This is the highest accolade we can receive, and our service received excellent feedback.”

Councillor Stan Shreeve, deputy leader at North East Lincolnshire Council and portfolio holder for health, wellbeing and adult social care, said: “This award highlights the dedication and commitment of all teams involved. This would not have been possible without them, and I would like to congratulate those striving to make a difference.”