New £1 million Neonatal Unit offers fantastic facilities to parents and babies
Premature and sick babies will now receive the best care possible, thanks to the opening of a state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which boasts some amazing new facilities.
The unit at Basildon Hospital includes a room, called a Rooming-in Room, which offers the opportunity for parents to experience how to look after their premature babies’ needs in the safety and security of the Neonatal Unit before they go home.
The room is fitted with a comfy bed, seats and ensuite shower room, but with all the help and support of the NICU staff just the other side of the door.
Jerusha Murdoch-Kelly, Deputy Director of Nursing, said: “Rooming-in is like a practice session for taking care of your baby on your own before you go home. It gives you a chance care for your baby with a nurse close by for help and advice. It can make the change from hospital to home much smoother for you and your baby.
“We are really proud of our new NICU, and everything has been designed with parents, baby and the family in mind. It can be such a daunting experience having a premature or sick baby, but with these new facilities, our dedicated staff and such a welcoming environment we hope this area will make it a more calming place to spend those precious first moments.”
The NICU is a bright and welcoming unit and has 19 cots, a breast feeding area, as well as a parents’ lounge where they can make hot drinks, use a microwave to prepare meals and a fridge for food storage.
Parents can also sit - or sleep - in comfort with ten specialist recliner chairs being added to the side of cots, allowing families to be close to their infant at all times. Eight of these reclining chairs were paid for by Mid and South Essex Hospitals Charity, who donated over £50,000 to the new unit.
One family who helped fundraise some of that money was Lauren and John Hatful, from Laindon. The neonatal unit is something is close to their hearts as the couple had twin girls Poppy and Daisy prematurely in the Basildon maternity unit in September 2020. Sadly, Poppy passed away at just 18 days old.
The couple visited the new area, and were delighted by the new facilities. Lauren said: “This is an amazing space. No one understands how important they are or what these places do for people until you go through the situation of having a baby in there.
“We remain so grateful to Neonatal staff for all they did for our family, and are proud we’ve played our part in helping benefit future families who need to use this new unit. They were there for us at the old unit, so we felt it only right we are here for them.”
Another family who has raised money to buy medical equipment for NICU are Lydia and Richard Hobden, who run Noah’s Big Charity.
The couple, from Billericay, set up their charity in 2013 after Lydia was admitted to hospital after suffering a sudden heart attack while she was 24 weeks pregnant.
Lydia was admitted to hospital had an emergency caesarean section to save her life and her son’s life.
Noah was born weighing 1 pound 15 ounces and was cared for in the old NICU at Basildon Hospital before he was transferred to Royal London Hospital where he unfortunately died.
Richard said: “Anything that can make the process of having a sick or premature baby more welcoming is a great thing and this unit will do this, as well as giving staff the space to do their fantastic work.”