21 December 2011

Barts and the London NHS Trust has won international recognition for the support it gives new mums to breastfeed.

The Trust’s community health services are the first in London to achieve Baby Friendly accreditation after winning approval for every aspect of their breastfeeding support programme.

The Baby Friendly initiative was set up by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation to improve care for mothers and babies with a special focus on ensuring that mothers receive high-quality support to enable successful breastfeeding.

Barts and The London NHS Trust community breastfeeding coordinator, Claire Davis, said up to 72% of mothers in Tower Hamlets continue breastfeeding 6–8 weeks after birth, compared to the national average of 48% - a clear illustration of the good work being done.

Claire said: “We are thrilled to receive this status after working hard for three years to achieve the various accreditation stages.

“Since 2008 UNICEF has assessed our staff’s skills, knowledge and systems, and for the final stage interviewed more than 50 mothers and expectant mothers about the care they received.

“Research consistently shows that breastfeeding helps mothers’ and babies’ health in numerous ways, so we aim to provide the best care to help mothers continue to breastfeed for as long as they wish.”

There are approximately 4000 births in Tower Hamlets every year with each new mother offered a home visit from a breastfeeding support worker from Barts and the London’s Community Health Services, in addition to care from their health visitor.

UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Programme Director, Sue Ashmore said: "We are delighted that Barts and the London NHS Trust’s community health services has achieved full Baby Friendly status.

“Surveys show us that most mothers want to breastfeed but don’t always get the support they need. Mothers in Tower Hamlets can be confident their health visitors and breastfeeding team will provide the highest standard of care.

New mother Anna Patel praised the support she has received from the service since giving birth to baby Kushal at the Barkantine Birth Centre six weeks ago.

Anna said: “There’s no way I could have persevered with breastfeeding Kushal without the advice from Claire’s team.

“I struggled initially but within the first week I received a home visit from a breastfeeding support worker.  I also  attended one of the breastfeeding groups and it was fantastic to share stories with other new mums about our experiences.

“Once you get the hang of breastfeeding it’s fine, but getting to grips with it can be tricky, particularly when you’re already so exhausted from labour.

“I was determined to breastfeed as I knew all the benefits it would give my son but I think I would have switched to bottle feeding by now if it weren’t for the support available.”

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Notes to editors

•    The Baby Friendly accreditation was jointly awarded to the Trust and Tower Hamlet’s Children Centres.
•    As part of the joint work to achieve full ‘Baby Friendly’ status, Tower Hamlets Public Health department commissioned Women’s Health and Family Services to implement a Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme that has resulted in 130 public places including cafes, libraries, hairdressers, shops and pharmacies displaying signs encouraging breastfeeding.
•    Barts and the London’s community health services division employs a team of 14 Breastfeeding Support Workers who speak the main community languages of Tower Hamlets.  In addition, a team of 20 volunteers who are registered breastfeeding helpers and supporters with The Breastfeeding Network support the scheme by teaching antenatal classes about breastfeeding, helping mothers on the postnatal ward at Royal London and running some of the breastfeeding clinics.
•    Barts and The London is one of Britain's top teaching hospital trusts.  Our mission is literally to bring excellence to life - to give patients the best possible care so that they can live better, fuller, longer lives. Our world-renowned hospitals - St Bartholomew's (Barts) in the City, The Royal London in Whitechapel and The London Chest in Bethnal Green - have made and continue to make an outstanding contribution to modern medicine.

Baby Friendly Initiative
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. In the UK, the initiative works with health professionals to ensure that mothers and babies receive high-quality support to enable successful breastfeeding. The Award is given to health facilities after an assessment by a UNICEF team has shown that recognised best practice standards are in place.
www.babyfriendly.org.uk