BABIES born at Royal Surrey County Hospital are receiving the very best start in life, a global initiative has found.

The Guildford-based hospital has successfully retained its Baby Friendly Accreditation for the 18th year, following a comprehensive and rigorous inspection.

Introduced to the UK in 1995 by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, the Baby Friendly initiative has become a globally recognised mark of quality care for mothers and babies.

As well as being designed to support breastfeeding, the initiative also re-enforces the importance of building loving and responsive relationship with the infant even before birth.

The Royal Surrey was assessed against 50 newly introduced standards, covering both the physical and emotional elements. This included how the hospital supported new mothers in their choice of feeding.

Inspectors not only quizzed Royal Surrey staff and observed them in action, but also spoke to new parents to seek their views and experiences of the service.

Head of midwifery at the Royal Surrey, Jacqui Tingle, said: “This award shows that as well as supporting mothers to make informed feeding choices, our midwives are committed to ensuring that all babies’ get off to the best start in life.

“This starts from the moment that an expectant mother books her first pregnancy appointment and goes right through until she leaves the service after she has had the baby.

“The hard work does not stop here, we are now looking to achieve the stand alone award for both our Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) and children’s ward.”