Hospital gets the ‘green light’ to expand neonatal facilities
Plans to expand the neonatal facilities and increase the number of cots at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) have received national approval.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is the main neonatal intensive care hub for the region, caring for around 1,000 babies and their families each year at the QMC and at City Hospital.
Currently, the service has to transfer babies out of Nottingham to other hospitals each week, sometimes beyond the East Midlands, since there are not enough intensive care cots to meet demand.
On Monday 20 February, NUH was given the go ahead to expand the neonatal intensive care unit at the QMC, increasing the number of intensive, high dependency and special care cots from 17 to 38. The neonatal unit at City Hospital will become a ‘Local Neonatal Unit’, where babies can continue to receive high dependency and special care and be managed in intensive care for up to 48 hours, before being transferred to the QMC for longer term care where needed.
Lleona Lee, Neonatal consultant at NUH and Clinical Lead for the expansion programme said: “The Nottingham Neonatal Service strives to give the best care to the babies from our local population and those from our wider regional network who need intensive care, and the current lack of capacity is a real problem.”
Jenni Twinn, Maternity and Neonatal Redesign Programme Director, added: “The current neonatal unit at the QMC is very cramped. This programme provides a great opportunity for us to improve the environment, not only giving families more privacy at what can be a very difficult time for them, but also enabling our staff to support them to actively participate in family integrated care, leading to a much better overall experience.”
Approval through NHS England’s Joint Investment Sub-Committee this week means that enabling works can get underway before the expansion starts in earnest in September. During the construction period, the Neonatal Service will temporarily relocate to the Paediatric Surgical Unit within Nottingham Children’s Hospital. The aim is for the new, expanded facility to be completed by the end of 2024.
Lucy Dadge, Director of Integration at the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, said: “The expansion of neonatal facilities in Nottingham is something we have wanted to achieve for a long time. Although the service is small numerically in terms of the number of babies cared for, it is regionally commissioned, and the current lack of cots can increase the risk of poorer outcomes. The benefits for families of this programme will be truly transformational.”
