Wakefield: Case Study

Partnership Working

Wakefield has excellent relationships with Children’s Centres, Health Professionals and the Commissioning Team. We are just starting to deliver sessions in local secondary schools in partnership with the Breastfeeding Specialist Team. We have a small number of pumps that we loan out to mums in the early days in partnership with the breastfeeding specialist team. We are often approached by student midwives who come out and shadow our peer supporters in order to gain an insight into our service.

Operations Meetings are held on a 6 weekly basis with all stakeholders in the area. Hosted by Little Angels, this meeting serves a vital role in continuing excellent working relationships. The meeting promotes sharing of information between agencies, including feedback on the service Little Angels provides , a staff update and service developments.

Data Collection

In Wakefield, Little Angels  acts as part of the overall data collection process. Added value to our service here is provided by entering the information we collect on to Systmone. This enables seamless data collection and monitoring across all services, providing  a true and accurate reflection of infant feeding trends across the area. As indicated on the below graph taken from Systmone, there is now a higher prevalence of breastfeeding from birth to 6 months  than in previous years and before Little Angels service began in  late 2008.

Our own in house data collection further evidences the work of the team in this area, providing more depth information including prevalence by mother’s age, ethnicity and ward area.