Gold again for Torbay public health nursing team

Published: 10 November 2026

Families in Torbay will continue to benefit from Gold-standard support with infant feeding after the Public Health Nursing team retained its UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Gold Award.

The award recognises the way the 0–19 Public Health Nursing service supports families with infant feeding and helps parents develop close and loving relationships with their babies. The team retained Gold following a reassessment in September.

The assessor described it as “absolutely a Gold service”, with the formal report praising the quality of the team’s work, its strong leadership and the way it works with partners to support families.

There are encouraging signs that this work is making a difference. Exclusive breastfeeding at six to eight weeks has increased from 35.5% when the service achieved Gold to 40.9% at revalidation. The assessment also recognised closer working with maternity and perinatal mental health services, Action for Children and increased specialist infant feeding support.

Natalie Aldridge, Professional Lead for Public Health Nursing, 0-19 Service, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are incredibly proud to have retained our Gold Award. It reflects the knowledge, care and hard work of colleagues across our service and the strong partnerships we have built around families in Torbay.

“Every family is different and infant feeding is a very personal part of becoming a parent. We want families to feel listened to and to have the information and skilled support they need to make the choices that are right for them.

“I particularly want to thank our Infant Feeding Lead, Gayle Parry, whose passion and dedication have been central to this work, alongside our maternity colleagues and partners at Action for Children. We are delighted with the result, but we will keep learning and improving the support we offer.” Joe Teape, Chief Executive of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and I’m very proud of our Public Health Nursing team and everyone who has contributed to retaining Gold.

“What matters is the difference this work makes for babies and families. Having the right support in those early days and weeks can make such a difference, and this award gives us valuable independent recognition of the quality of support our teams are providing.

“It is also great to see the strength of partnership working recognised. Our public health nursing, maternity and perinatal mental health teams, alongside Action for Children, are working together to give babies and families the best possible start.”

The team will now continue work in the areas identified through the assessment, including further improvements to audit results and data and involving staff and families in developing services. Its next full Gold revalidation is due in September 2029.