Achieving Baby Friendly through a quality management approach

In 1994, The Royal Women's Hospital became the first public hospital in Australia to achieve Accreditation to the UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. The 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, effectively created standards against which an organisation can be assessed on their ability to provide women with consistent advice, access to education and support. The application of the Continuous Quality Improvement cycle of Plan, Do, Check, Act, was successful in assisting maternity staff to assess their practice, implement improvements and evaluate against the 10 Steps. Ongoing monitoring ensures that the high standard is maintained by the hospital.