Partners in care: You, your baby and NICU

Nottingham Centre for Neonatal Care

City Neonatal Unit 0115 969 1169 ext 75215 / 75216

Direct parent line City hospital: 0115 962 80 50 

 

QMC Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 0115 924 9924 ext 84120

Bay 1 QMC 01158844931 (or ext 83001)

Bay 2 QMC 01158844932 (or ext 83002)

Bay 3 QMC 01158844933 (or ext 83003)

Bay 4 QMC 01158844934 ext 83004

Bay 5 QMC 01158844935 ext 83005

You are welcome to contact us at any time day or night. Information over the phone will only be given out to parents/carers, unless we have a special agreement in place with you and your family members.

 

You are not visitors and are able to be with your baby anytime, day or night. We want to make sure all our babies are safe, so sometimes we may need to confirm who you are.

Everyone should call the buzzer and speak to a member of staff or reception before entering the units. Please do not allow others to follow in after you, they should call the buzzer. At times this may mean a short wait, we will answer as soon as we can.

 

We welcome visitors, we understand how important they are in supporting you and celebrating with you. Our visiting hours are 2pm-4pm and 6pm-9pm. These hours and rules may change or even decrease at times, our number one priority is to keep your babies safe. 

There should be no more than 2 visitors at your babies cot side and we ask that one of these people is a parent or carer.

Siblings can visit with you at any time, if you have a lot of other children we may ask you to rotate due to the number of people at the cot side. Children who are not siblings must be 16 years or older to visit our unit. We ask that when entering the Neonatal Unit all visitors remove any outdoor clothing and wash hands on entering the bay, followed by the use of hand gel. Please make use of the parent lockers to store your belongings.

 

We understand that stress can lead to outbursts of emotions, please know that we all just want the best for your baby and family. Please have open and honest conversations with us about how we can best meet yours and your babies needs.

NUH has a strict zero tolerance policy for aggression, violence and harassment, including any threatening or racist behaviour. 

Our Trust policy is there to support everyone to feel safe. If necessary, security staff and/or police may be contacted to support this.

You will see our staff wearing body cameras, this is standard practice in our area.

 

Yours:

We would like to work closely with you throughout your baby’s journey to become partners in care. We welcome you to set out your expectations as parents and carers and we will do our best to create a plan that takes into consideration your baby’s needs and best interests.

Ours:

We will work together to create a plan that takes into consideration your baby’s needs and best interests

 

All parents are entitled to free parking at QMC and City hospital campus throughout your babies stay. Please ask a member of staff for a parking permit form. Once completed this should be returned in person to the car parking teams at either campus.

 

NUH is a non-smoking site, please respect the no smoking signs around the hospital. New born babies just like yours will be coming and going through our entrances and should not be exposed to cigarette smoke. 

If you are a smoker, then please leave 30 minutes between having your last cigarette and coming in to handle your baby, followed by our usual hand washing practice.

 

Infection prevention and control is everyone’s responsibility.

Premature and sick babies are at a higher risk of infection throughout their journey.

Premature babies also have immature skin and immune systems, making it difficult for them to fight off bacteria and viruses that they may come into contact with.

Effective hand washing plus the use of hand gel are the most important factors in reducing the spread of infection.

Follow these steps below to support the Neonatal Unit:

• All parents and visitors must wash their hands when they enter the neonatal unit and alcohol gel must be applied before touching baby.
• Everyone must remove outside coats before entering the bays.
• Only one toy is allowed to be placed in the baby(s) incubator or cot. This toy will need to be washable or wipe-able and should be cleaned weekly.
• Story books are allowed, and we encourage parents to read to their babies. Books should be hard back and therefore wipe-able.
• Baby clothes should be washed before being put onto your baby, even when brand new.
• Babies wearing their own clothes should have dirty or worn clothes taken by parents/carers to be washed.
• Whilst your baby is in ITU/High dependency, only parents, siblings (who are well) and staff are allowed to touch your baby.
• When your baby is in low dependency or discharged to the ward, you can choose to have other family members and friends touch and cuddle your baby.
• Hand sanitiser is available at every bed space

We appreciate this is a lot to remember so please do not worry if we remind you of these important things, you are welcome to remind us too!

Types of infection

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

On admission, all babies are screened for MRSA. Staphylococcus aureous are common bacteria that live harmlessly on the skin and in the nose of about one third of healthy people. This bacteria is spread through skin contact.

MRSA is type of Staphylococcus 

Aureus (SA) that has developed resistance to several antibiotics. We would use special infection control measures to help treat and reduce the spread of this infection.

Pseudomonuas aeruginosa

This is a bacteria found in environmental sources, such as water. We test all babies weekly for this and work closely with infection control to reduce the risk in our environment. For this reason we kindly ask:

• The sink in the bay should be used for handwashing only. When undertaking cares (nappy changes or face washing) sterile water should be used. We will provide small bottles of sterile water during your stay
• Do not pour any liquids down the sinks, all dirty water should be emptied into your nappy waste bag and put into the yellow bin. Left over drinks should be disposed of appropriately in the parent kitchen.

Should your baby have a positive result, we will discuss this with you straight away and follow advice from the infection control team.

Coughs, colds and respiratory viruses

If parents/carers have any coughs/colds we ask that you wear a mask or a visor, whilst on the unit. Visitors and siblings should not visit until symptoms have resolved. If you are unwell with a temperature, we ask that you do not visit until this has subsided. We will make sure you remain updated virtually with photos/videos of your baby and medical updates can be given over the phone.

Diarrhoea and vomiting

Diarrhoea and vomit can pose a great risk to your baby and the staff looking after your baby.

Parents, siblings or visitors who have any symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting must not visit until 48 hours after the last episode.