Neonatal

The Nottingham Centre for Neonatal Care comprises the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Queens Medical Centre and the Local Neonatal Unit (LNU) at City Hospital. 

The NICU at QMC has 38 cots – 13 intensive care, 12 high dependency care and 13 in Special Care. In addition to providing intensive care services for the sickest newborn babies across the East Midlands region, the QMC unit also provides regional Paediatric Surgical, ENT and Neurosurgical services and supra-regional Nephrology services. 

QMC is also home to the Nottingham Children’s Hospital, and the Neonatal team work closely with the specialties above, as well as Paediatric Intensive Care and Anaesthetics, Paediatric Respiratory, Cardiology, Gastroenterology and Endocrine specialist teams.

The LNU at Nottingham City Hospital has 2 intensive care cots, 2 high dependency cots and 12 special care cots, as well as a Transitional Care located within Maternity wards.  Babies who are born at 27 weeks gestation or above, with a birth weight more than 800grams can be cared for at City LNU.

There are over 10,000 deliveries across the Nottingham Neonatal Service every year, and the neonatal team work closely with midwives and obstetricians to plan for babies expected to need additional support, as well as responding together to deal with emergency situations. 

We work as a single service with shared staff, joint educational meetings and protocols.  We have a large multidisciplinary team working across the two Neonatal Units, including: 

• Neonatal Specialist nurses & Clinical Support Workers 
• Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioners
• Resident Doctors who are training to specialise in Paediatrics and Neonatal Intensive Care
• Neonatal Consultants
• Neonatal Pharmacists & Neonatal Dieticians, Infant Feeding Team
• Neonatal Physiotherapists, Speech & Language Therapists & Occupational Therapists
• Clinical Psychologists
• Dedicated Family Care team

All staff rotate between both sites providing a high standard of care for our babies and their families, alongside 24/7 Receptionists, Cleaners and Admin staff. 

Throughout your stay you will be kept fully informed of all aspects of your baby’s care. Translation services are always available if English is not your preferred language.

The staff aim to maximise your time with your baby and will encourage you to be involved in their care. We have a range of parent accommodation located on or close to both Neonatal Units. Some of these rooms are used to help parents gain confidence in the care of their baby before going home, and they will be allocated to ensure they are always available to those who need them most.  There are also family lounges and kitchen facilities on both sites, as well as 2 children's play areas at QMC and 1 at City.

We understand having a baby on the Neonatal Unit can be an anxious time and we aim to support you through this. We have a dedicated Family Care Team on the unit who will provide you with information about the unit and give you additional support during your baby’s stay, as well as Clinical Psychologists, and a Neonatal Home Care team to continue that support after he or she goes home if needed.