The Bliss Baby Charter accreditation assessment was carried out both in person and virtually with Ipswich neonatal unit on October 22 2024 by Bliss Baby Charter Programme Officers, Stella Rranxi and Rachel Quartermaine, and Volunteer Assessors, Lynne Wainwright and Jane Tate with the Baby Charter lead for the unit Sharon Ward.
The achievement was celebrated in a ceremony on the unit on January 14, with Bliss and Ipswich Hospital staff coming together to mark the occasion.
By reaching this gold standard, the unit and its staff successfully demonstrated that there are sufficient procedures, practices, and facilities in place to empower parents and carers to be partners in care through joint decision-making and hands on care, as well as understanding families' needs and availability in order to provide truly individualised care. This facilitates a solid foundation for Family Integrated Care.
Bliss found that the multidisciplinary team at Ipswich Hospital passionately strove to promote a warm, welcoming, supportive and informative environment for families; with a strong ethos of individually tailoring how they work in partnership with parents.
Feedback from parents on the day was extremely positive, particularly with regards to the care and support they received, and it was noted that the unit also strives to ensure parents' voices are heard and help drive service improvement.
Ward Manager, Danielle Mitchell said: “Ipswich Neonatal Unit are overjoyed with the recent achievement of Bliss Gold. We strive to make what is often one the most challenging times a family can face as seamless as possible, hoping to try and ease the anxieties and pressures that a stay on the neonatal unit can bring.
“Our aim is to ensure parents and carers feel supported and as involved in their babies care as they feel comfortable. The accomplishment of Bliss Gold highlights the amazing progress we've made over recent years, but the hard work won't stop here.
“We will always hold ourselves to the highest standards so that we can continue to make our families journeys as comfortable as possible. Achieving Bliss Gold is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the whole team and I couldn't be prouder of each and every one of them.”
Dr Prathiba Pai, Neonatal Consultant Clinical Lead said: “We, the Neonatal team at Ipswich hospital have been very pleased that our care, not just the babies but the families as a whole has been recognised.
“The credit goes to each and every member of the team – nursing, medical, therapies (physiotherapist, OT, speech and language, psychologists), housekeeper, ward clerk, data clerk, pharmacists, procurement team, cleaners and everyone who works on the team. This is boosted and supported by excellent work of Sharon Ward – she brings it all together and helped all of us to recognise all the work we all have done for families.
“We see parents as important part of the team when making management plans for babies which was reflected in the assessment – without which we could not have achieved this. We highly values parent’s input not only in the management of their baby but their feedback for improving the service.
“We work closely with maternity team, ophthalmology, radiology and blood bank – this means we provide as much as possible timely care close to home for babies. We thank the East of England Neonatal network who have supported us by providing support and feedback resulting in improvement of our services for families. We as a team will continue to work on all the good work we are doing and improve on any work which could be done even better.”
The mother of a term baby treated on the unit said: “I never thought that being in hospital could be such a wonderful experience. It was devastating hearing that our baby needed to go to the neonatal unit, but the care that we received as a family was absolutely exceptional. The love and care that the staff show is second to none. A huge thank you to you all for your guidance and support.”
Father to a baby born at 35 weeks and treated on the unit said: “Being able to stay on the unit as a family for the whole time that our baby was admitted, was a God send. We will forever be in debt to the Ipswich Neonatal team, constantly checking on us, ensuring we were OK. They made sure we kept going, gave us strength and are truly amazing listeners. The ward is a huge asset to the NHS.”
