Update on plans to expand our neonatal facilities at the Queen’s Medical Centre
Through our Maternity and Neonatal Redesign programme, we have been developing plans to expand our neonatal (premature baby) facilities at the Queen’s Medical Centre, giving us a further 21 cots, and providing more space within the Neonatal unit to create a better environment for families and for the staff providing care. The larger facility would also make it much less likely that in future we would have to send very poorly premature babies out of area, as we would have sufficient cots in Nottingham.
In partnership with the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (formerly the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group), we carried out targeted engagement in July this year with families, community and voluntary sector groups, as well as with our staff to get initial feedback on the proposals. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Originally, we had intended for an expansion of our smaller maternity theatres (to make them both the same size) to be carried out within the scope of the Maternity and Neonatal Redesign programme, since they are located close to the Neonatal facility. However, following in-depth risk and quality impact assessments, and having listened to the feedback and concerns of clinical colleagues, we have decided to defer this element of the work for the time being. Currently, staffing levels in our maternity services in particular are very stretched, and having to transfer women to main theatres from labour suite during the nine month period of the construction work could increase the level of risk for mothers and babies. The safety of our patients will always be our primary consideration.
Through Tomorrow’s NUH, we are hopeful that we will be able to deliver maternity and neonatal services from a new hospital building on a single site by the end of the decade, but ahead of that timeline we will continue to explore the best and safest way to upgrade our maternity theatres following completion of the Neonatal work.