NHS Orkney Balfour Maternity

07/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week

This is the last day of World Breastfeeding Week!

We hope you've enjoyed all the information shared!

Did you know we have an Infant Feeding Peer Support service here at NHS Orkney?

We have a small team of dedicated volunteers who give up their own time to support new mums in the community. Some of whom trained in 2020 and the others in 2023, so they are all very experience at what they do.

Establishing this service helped us towards acheiving the Glod award and is just a fantastic addition to the support already in place within the hospital and in the community.

The extra layer of support they provide for new mums and their families has proven to be very well received and theres always lots of positive feedback when we are auditing the service.

We asked our Peers what their favourite thing is about being a peer support volunteer and the responses were just lovely.

Scan the QR code and fill in the form if you would like to sign up or find out more information.

06/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week

UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative.

In 2022 NHS Orkney achieved the Gold Award and we couldn't be prouder. We're the first island board in Scotland to achieve it.

A huge amount of hard work went into acheiving the award, and it continues, to maintain it. Every day in the maternity unit and in the comminity we provide skilled responsive and nurturing care to babies, their mothers and families.

NHS Orkney has been investing in infant feeding in recent years and have an IBCLC - International Board Certified Lactaction Consultant on the staff. They've also recently appointed an Infant Feeding Support Worker.

In addition to main staff we have a dedicated team of Infant Feeding Peer Support Volunteers. They work tirelessly in the background providing that extra layer of support on top of the wonderful staff in the Maternity Unit and our super Health Visiting team.

All working together to provide the best possible care and all striving to improve and maintain the Gold Award for many years to come to strengthen what works.

05/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week

Breastfeeding is such an emotive subject for many. Not everyone feels they can celebrate it.

The majority of parents want to breastfeed, for some they couldn't for one reason or another. Around 80% stopped before they wanted to and for a lot of parents they're left with a feeling of guilt/grief.

Its not their fault, everyone is trying to do what is best for them, their baby, their family.

Do you still have grief for your past experience?Maybe you had a difficult time first time round and are expecting again? Or maybe you feel it would be good to understand why things happened the way they did? Please get in touch if you would like to talk anything through. We would love to hear from you.

Email [email protected]

Here in Orkney we are accredited with a Gold award for the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative. We are always looking to improve our services across infant feeding in hospital settings, and in the comminity. We would love to hear any feedback we can use to improve things in our community.

There are many 3rd Sector organisations throughout Scotland working with colleagues in the NHS to promote, protect and support breastfeeding. You can find reliable sources of evidence based information from the organisations such as ABM, Le Leche league, NCT and Parent Club.

The national breastfeeding helpline is open 24/7, 365 days a year. There is nation wide help and support available out there, as well as lots of local support from midwives, health visitors, the infant feeding team and peer support volunteers.

04/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week

Today we shine a light on our local buisness that are members of the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Scheme.

Wellpark Garden Centre and The Willows Coffee Shop
Lucano
Twenty One
The Albert Hotel
Cafe Lolz
Groatie Buckies Cafe
The Pierowall Hotel
Saintear
Skello Shop Westray
Westray Parish Kirk
Papay Parish Kirk
The Kirk Gallery & Café
The Daily Scoop
Orkney Library & Archive
Historic Scotland
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Pentland Ferries
NorthLink Ferries
Stagecoach
Orkney Agricultural Society
Aalfiredup
Santander Kirkwall
K Allan Properties
Findlay's Photo Shop
WHB Sutherlands
Home-Start Orkney
Heilendi Practice
Peedie Sea Children's Centre
Dounby Surgery
Orkney Dental
Orcades Practice

If you are a buisness owner and you're not signed up, but would like to change that, you can email

[email protected]

We would love to hear from you 😊

03/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week

The Scottish Governments Breastfeeding and Infant feeding strategic framework 2025-2030 underpins everything we do in Scotland to protect Breastfeeding at a national level.

Breastfeeding friendly Scotland is a government scheme to help establishments like cafes and restaurants show they are supportive of breastfeeding, enabling mothers to feel comfortable to feed their children when out and about, which, for a new mum can sometimes feel like a bit of a challenge.

We have so many buisness' here in Orkney signed up to the scheme. Have you spotted any stickers?

Here are some of our peer support volunteers and group attendee feeding out and about 💕 🤱

For tips about breastfeeding when out and about
in Scotland, visit Parentclub

https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/getting-out-and-about-while-breastfeeding

02/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week

Public Health Scotland publishes an annual report on infant feeding in Scotland. Collecting data on breastfeeding is important so we can track progress over time, understand what is working for families and where improvements can be made to ensure families recieve the best possible support.

Did you feel supported in your feeding journey?
We would love to hear your experience 🤱💕

01/08/2026

It's World Breastfeeding Week!

Over the next week we will be sharing some information, talking about services in our community and asking for your input and experiences too.

We're kicking off with some favourite feeding facts from our Infant Feeding Peer Support Volunteers 😊

Did you find any of these surprising? Do you need more information? Do you have a favourite fact that you would like to share? We would love to hear them 🤱🥰

29/07/2026

Public Health Scotland (PHS) are currently leading a review of all pregnancy and newborn screening content and would like to hear from you. As part of this review, your input will contribute towards the update of national pregnancy and newborn screening content, online and in print.
If you have a few minutes they would really appreciate your input.

16/07/2026

Well done to our colleagues within the Emergency Department, Inpatients 1 and Inpatients 2 on a very positive inspection report. 🥳👏

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) publishes inspection report on acute hospital services at The Balfour highlighting compassionate patient care, strong teamwork, supportive leadership and a positive culture across NHS Orkney

The unannounced inspection, undertaken in March 2026, examined care within the Emergency Department, Inpatients 1 and Inpatients 2 wards. Inspectors identified eight areas of good practice and recognised the commitment of staff in delivering safe, effective and person-centred care despite the challenges faced by remote and rural health services.

Highlights include:
• Calm, well-organised ward environments with strong multidisciplinary teamwork
• Positive feedback from patients and carers, who described staff as “kind”, “compassionate” and “responsive”
• Effective hospital-wide safety huddles supporting patient safety and operational oversight
• Strong support for student nurses, newly qualified nurses and international nurses
• A positive workplace culture, with staff describing The Balfour as a good place to work

The inspection identified seven requirements relating to governance processes, training compliance, adverse event review timescales, protected leadership time and the further embedding of new workforce planning systems. NHS Orkney has agreed an action plan and work is already underway in these areas.

The report notes ongoing improvement work including enhanced training programmes, leadership development initiatives, strengthened workforce planning arrangements, quality improvement activity relating to paediatric care, and a programme of whole-system redesign to improve patient flow and reduce delays in transfers of care.

Finally, NHS Orkney’s strong performance in key areas was acknowledged including, emergency care performance, patient flow, patient experience, support for workforce development and collaborative working with regional partners.

Read more on our website here, https://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/healthcare-improvement-scotland-his-publishes-inspection-report-on-acute-hospital-services-at-the-balfour-highlighting-compassionate-patient-care-strong-teamwork-supportive-leadership-and-a-positi/

02/07/2026

🤩

NHS Orkney welcomes the publication of the unannounced Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) inspection of maternity services at The Balfour undertaken in March 2026

The report recognises a number of significant strengths within the maternity service. Inspectors observed staff providing compassionate, person-centred and family-focused care, with positive feedback from women and families who said they felt involved, listened to and well supported throughout their care journey. Strong teamworking, supportive leadership and a positive culture were also highlighted, alongside examples of innovation, such as improved communication pathways and local services designed to reduce travel for families.

Encouragingly the inspection identified 12 areas of good practice, reflecting the commitment, professionalism and dedication of the maternity team in delivering high-quality care to women, babies and families across Orkney.

The report also identifies areas where further improvement is required, including strengthening governance processes, ensuring timely review of adverse events, improving oversight of policies and procedures, and supporting staff with protected time for leadership and training. NHS Orkney accepts these findings and has already developed a comprehensive improvement action plan to address all requirements and recommendations.

Sam Thomas, Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery, AHP’s and Chief Officer Acute Services at NHS Orkney said: “I’d like to thank everyone for supporting the visit and to the HIS team for carrying out such a comprehensive inspection. Our priority now is to build on the strong foundations identified in this report while implementing sustainable improvements that will further strengthen safety, governance and staff support. Progress will be closely monitored through our clinical governance structures and reported appropriately. I’d also like to thank all the patients and families who contributed to the inspection. Last, but not least, I must highlight the dedication and compassion the maternity team show to our patients and their families every single day. Their commitment remains central to us delivering safe, effective, and person-centred maternity care for our community.”