What is being done and why
Nationally
UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI): A gold-standard accreditation programme adopted by many NHS trusts to improve care for mothers and babies. It promotes breastfeeding through evidence-based standards and staff training10.
Health Visitor Programmes: Health visitors are trained to deliver universal and targeted breastfeeding support, including intensive home visits and parenting programmes
Start4Life Campaign: A national public health campaign providing accessible breastfeeding advice and resources for families11.
Regionally
Infant Feeding Leads and Champions: All maternity, neonatal, and 0–19 services have designated staff who offer one-to-one breastfeeding support.
Peer Support and Community Groups: Many areas offer peer-led breastfeeding groups and drop-in sessions, often coordinated through local NHS trusts or children's centres.
Regional Infant Feeding Network: This network facilitates quarterly meetings among professionals to share best practices and improve service delivery.
BFI Accreditation Progress: While some services are fully accredited, others are at different stages of the process. Barriers include funding and staffing, but efforts are ongoing to expand accreditation across the region.
Locally
0–19 Child Health Services: These services provide breastfeeding advice, support groups, and referrals to specialist help where needed.
Local Health Visiting Teams: Trained professionals offer face-to-face support during antenatal and postnatal visits.
Specialist Infant feeding team (Health Visiting team), supporting any concerns regarding feeding in any aspect including breast feeding.
Breast feeding and infant feeding groups in comfortable settings in family hubs.
Groups Include: - Infant feeding workshop for pregnant mothers, Bump & Baby Latch group, Feeding and developing drop-in group and introducing solid foods.
There are four family hubs in Hartlepool: - Rossmere Family Hub, Miers Avenue Family Hub, Hindpool Close Family Hub and Middleton Grange Family Hub.
Completion of Unicef Stage 1 & 2 Accreditation working towards stage 3 and involving local business on the baby friendly initiative.
“Hartlepool Borough Council – Health Visiting and Family Hubs present a positive approach towards implementing the Baby Friendly standards and has consistently displayed enthusiasm and commitment towards providing an effective training programme. The level of collaboration between Health Visiting and Family Hubs is commendable and the organisation has achieved the goal of working as one integrated service. The Family Hubs feel to be the central point for many innovative parent centred activities, brought about by a constant desire to improve access to venues and services. This has been brought about by listening to those using the services and by providing excellent welcoming facilities, which all staff were keen to comment on”.
Built in systems for support for families that are breast feeding and peer support systems.
Community-Based Programmes: Hartlepool has participated in regional audits and initiatives aimed at improving breastfeeding rates and service quality.
Offering NCT (National Childbirth Trust) virtual groups and peer support alongside groups from the Family Hubs.