The Princess Royal Hospital neonatal unit in Telford has passed UNICEF Baby Friendly Stage 3, an award the trust says rests on feedback from parents on the unit.

The neonatal unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford has been awarded Stage 3 of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative. It is the unit run by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), the trust that also runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The trust announced the award on its own site last week. The unit passed Stage 2 in July 2025.

What the award measures

The Baby Friendly Initiative is UNICEF UK’s programme for how hospitals and health services support families with feeding and with bonding with their babies. UNICEF UK says units bring in its standards in stages over several years and are assessed from outside at each one. Once all the stages are passed, a unit is accredited as Baby Friendly and can go on to a Gold award.

The trust says Stage 3 is different from the earlier stages because it rests on what parents say. In its words, the award shows:

  • families are “consistently receiving high-quality care”
  • infant feeding support and relationship-building guidance meet Baby Friendly standards
  • best practice “has become embedded in everyday care”

What staff and parents said

Dr Sanjeev Deshpande, a consultant neonatologist at the Princess Royal, said each stage of the assessment was “demanding and rigorously evaluated”. He said parents had “played a vital role in this achievement”.

Sam Petridis, the unit’s Baby Friendly lead, said the award recognised the team’s work “helping parents build close relationships with their babies while achieving their feeding goals”.

Two mothers are quoted in the trust’s release. One, who took part in the Stage 3 assessment and whose daughter was born at 31 weeks after an emergency caesarean, said the staff “not only looked after my little girl but also made sure I was taking care of myself”. The other, whose daughter was born at 25 weeks, said the nurses “never made me feel like I was failing” while she was learning to breastfeed and express.

What it means for you

The Princess Royal is where SaTH runs its neonatal unit, so families in the trust’s area whose babies are born early or unwell are likely to know it. The award is a sign, assessed from outside the trust, that feeding and bonding support there now meets a national standard.

Practical points worth knowing:

  • the unit is at the Princess Royal Hospital, Apley Castle, Telford, about 13 miles east of Shrewsbury
  • parents are encouraged to take part in their baby’s care, including skin-to-skin contact, according to the parents quoted by the trust
  • UNICEF UK publishes award tables showing how each hospital and service is progressing