Highland celebrates Gold Infant Feeding Award from Unicef BFI
Highland Council and NHS Highland are celebrating their joint achievement in attaining the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative Gold accreditation.
Image of Unicef BFI Gold logo
Chair of Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee, Cllr David Fraser said: “The Baby Friendly standards provide a roadmap for transforming care for all babies, their mothers and families.
“The Gold Award is awarded to services that have embedded the Unicef Baby Friendly Achieving Sustainability standards. This means that future generations of babies, their mothers and families will continue to experience Baby Friendly standards of care. The Award recognises that the service is not only implementing the Baby Friendly Initiative standards, but that they also have the leadership, culture and systems to maintain this over the long term.”
He added: “I would like to express my congratulations and thanks to the Health Visiting Teams, the Family Nurse Partnership and family support staff who have been accredited as a Gold Baby Friendly service. Achieving Gold in the Baby Friendly Initiative reflects a high level of dedication to supporting breastfeeding and the very many benefits that this brings.
“It is a truly impressive achievement and demonstrates our longstanding commitment to supporting the wellbeing of families in Highland through approaches that achieve real, practical and lasting impact.”
Karen MacKay, Senior Health Improvement Specialist (Infant Feeding Lead) for NHS Highland said: “This is a fantastic achievement for all involved in this award. Gold status requires a whole system approach and the use of testing quality improvement initiatives to support families with feeding and early infant behaviour. The annual reporting mechanism that is now required will further embed the great work that has been taking place in Highland.”
Gold status specifically indicates sustainability of practice meaning the service has embedded Baby Friendly standards into its leadership, culture and daily practice. It is a significant accomplishment that reflects a services’ commitment to embedding practice that benefit infant health, parental wellbeing, and long-term public health outcomes for both parent and infant.
Both the Council and NHS Highland first achieved full Baby Friendly accreditation from Unicef in 2013.
Photo of Highland Council and NHS Highland celebrating their joint achievement in attaining the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative Gold accreditation.