Bronze award for neonatal intensive care unit at Peterborough City Hospital

The Special Care Baby Unit at Hinchingbrooke has also has achieved the accreditation after receiving funding from the Local Maternity and Neonatal System Operational Delivery group.

The Bliss Baby Charter provides neonatal units with a practical framework to assess themselves against as a measure of quality of service. It consists of an online audit tool which has several stages within the programme which leads to gold accreditation. Prior to achieving their bronze awards, both units had already undertaken two previous audits, to gain a baseline and compose an action plan which helped them to make changes and improve the service.

Amanda Blake, SCBU ward manager, said: “I am proud to be part of a team that is so committed to continuing to improve the care that they provide to our babies and their families. We are now looking forward to working towards our silver accreditation.”

Both units have dedicated ‘Bliss’ teams who have led on the project to support the units though the accreditation process.

Katie Barke, NICU ward manager, said: “This has been a fantastic achievement for the NICU team. I am incredibly proud of the team; this award is evidence of the amazing care they provide to the babies and their families.”

Receiving the Bliss Baby Charter bronze award, recognises the changes that have been made on the units to improve the delivery of excellent family-centred care. The next step for both units is to work towards silver accreditation.