Neonatal Unit

Our Neonatal Unit at City Hospital is a 29 bedded unit consisting of five Intensive Care (ITU) beds, five High Dependency (HDU) beds and 19 Special Care (SC) beds. We pride ourselves on providing specialist Neonatal support to babies born too soon, too small or too sick. We promote Family Integrate Care (FiCare) whereby we empower parents to build a close and loving relationship by educating and supporting them to become involved in their babies care, enjoying momentous moments such as Kangaroo care, participating in ward rounds and tending to your babies needs which can involve taking their temperature, changing, bathing and feeding, early expression/breastfeeding.

Here at City Neonatal Unit we have a specialist Infant Feeding Team who support our families to express/breastfeed optimising outcomes, the FiCare philosophy helps to promote a seamless and safe discharge. As part of our discharge process we also educate our parents by delivering the STORK programme which empowers parents to keep their baby safe at home covering topics such as safe sleep, safe car travel. 

Another service our families benefit from is our rooming in facilities providing parents/carers with the opportunity to stay overnight with their baby to increase their confidence and ensure they are supported prior to discharge. We also offer bespoke training for skills such as tube feeding and home oxygen and these skills are supported by the completion of competency documents which are supported by our Neonatal Community Outreach Team, babies who need this support will further benefit from the extended care pathway from our Neonatal Community Outreach Team who will support the transition from hospital care to home care for the babies under their remit. We also host a Neonatal Discharge clinic which helps you to maintain a link with our specialist teams post discharge where your baby may be invited back to the hospital for measurements/bloods. 

As a Neonatal Unit we pride ourselves on support we are fortunate enough to be able to offer families such as free parking, food and snacks, electronic breast pump for families to take home to support their feeding journey we hope our families feel very welcome here on our Neonatal Unit and that these services make them comfortable during their stay with us.

The babies we care for are extremely vulnerable so we do ask all parents/carers/visitors to respect and adhere to our strict handwashing guidelines and visiting regulations in order to ensure we protect the babies we care for.  

For some families we wont be the first Neonatal Unit you have experienced as you may be transferred from another unit, we work closely to ensure continuity of care so please ensure you bring your Neonatal Journey document with you so we can continue your Neonatal Journey at the necessary stage.

For more information about disabled access for this service, please click here.

Team

Team

Whilst on the neonatal unit your baby will be cared for by doctors, consultants and nurses.
There are approximately 80 nurses who work on the unit, and there can be up to 10 working on any single shift. The nurses are organised into teams and you will be told which team is looking after your baby. You can ask the nurse from your baby’s team for any information you need.

If you would like to speak to your baby’s doctor you can do this during the morning ward round or ask your baby’s nurse to arrange a time when you can speak to them privately.

The matron and consultant

The neonatal unit matron oversees the smooth running of the unit. Every other week an open meeting is held with the neonatal unit matron and consultant, for parents with a baby on the neonatal unit where you can discuss any issues you have. If you have any problems, this is the best time to get them sorted out.

Patient Information

Patient Information Leaflets

Welcome to the Neonatal Unit
Welcome to SWB Neonatal Community Outreach Team (NCOT) Service ML6623
Phototherapy at Home Service ML6624
Going home tube feeding ML6625

Other leaflets can be found as part of the Maternity service page.

Watch this video to find out why Colostrum is vital to your baby’s health: 

Safe sleeping tips:

Contacts

Contacts

You can contact the neonatal unit at any time of the day or night for an update on your baby. We will only ever give information to the parents over the phone.

Neonatal Unit: 0121 507 5100.

Low dependency (cot nursery): 0121 507 5092