Unique mother and baby unit in Chorley is recognised with top 'gold standard' accreditation

Ribblemere in Chorley is a mental health inpatient unit run by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust, which enables treatment and recovery for mothers with serious mental health problems, or are at a high risk of relapse of problems including post-partum psychosis, severe post-natal depression and other complex perinatal mental health conditions.

Mums stay with babies

It allows mums to access inpatient support and treatment whilst remaining alongside their babies. Being able to stay with their baby whilst receiving care helps foster the mum and infant bond which is a really important aspect of perinatal care. The unit is staffed by multidisciplinary teams across psychiatry, nursing, psychology, occupational therapy, social work and nursery care.

Ribblemere is the only UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Gold award accredited mother and baby unit in the country, which encourages and supports infant feeding and bonding.

The unit has just been re-accreddited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Perinatal Quality Network (PQN). The PQN works with members to share best practice at a national level and their review and accreditation process promotes the highest level of care, which has once again been recognised at Ribblemere, three years after their last review.

As part of the review, feedback was sought from stakeholders including inpatients, one said: “I felt that the staff were amazing. I truly felt that support from staff supported me to get better much more quickly.”

Ward Manager Robyn Catlow said: “It’s fantastic to be accredited again in this way and we got there as a team. We are always striving to provide the best care for our mums, babies and the wider family. It was really lovely to read back some good feedback from the review and explore further opportunities to improve.”