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"Exemplary standards of care"

About: University Hospital Wishaw / Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

(as a service user),

Following her premature birth (33 weeks), my daughter was taken to the neonatal ICU. When I first visited my daughter, I was in a state of shock. Fortunately, the caring and professional staff ensured that I understood the treatments my daughter was receiving and the purposes of the various monitors and tubes. Above my daughter's incubator was a hand-drawing of an elephant with the words, "You are my sunshine". This small act of kindness was a source of genuine comfort.

My wife and I were accommodated in a private room in the ward. The staff could not have been kinder and more thoughtful. The staff brought us hot meals and reminded us to eat. They checked regularly on my wife's welfare, helped us to cope with our unexpected situation and congratulated us on the birth of our daughter.

After a few days in ICU, my daughter was transferred to a room in the same corridor with four other cots. Although less intensive, she received the same high standard of care with a dedicated midwife in the room at all times. The staff made a special effort to get to know all the parents and we felt secure in the knowledge that our daughter was receiving the highest levels of care and attention when we left the hospital at night.

Fortunately (and undoubtedly helped by the efforts of the staff), our daughter made consistent progress and was transferred to the Special Care Baby Unit and quickly thereafter to the Transitional Care Unit. The staff here were equally outstanding. My wife and I were placed in a private room where we were given the time and support to care for our daughter and to establish a routine before taking her home. The staff could not have been more helpful and supportive, answering our many questions and providing my wife with valuable help to establish breast-feeding.

Given the exemplary standards of care provided by this well established team, I was disappointed to learn of the plans to downgrade this neonatal unit. Had my daughter been moved to a hospital in Glasgow following her birth, our experience would have been unnecessarily traumatic. In addition to the increased travel costs and times, we would not have benefited from the support network at University Hospital Wishaw.

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Responses

Response from Cheryl Clark, Director of Midwifery, Women's Services, NHS Lanarkshire nearly 2 years ago
Cheryl Clark
Director of Midwifery, Women's Services,
NHS Lanarkshire
Submitted on 18/08/2023 at 10:28
Published on Care Opinion at 10:28


Dear Capote,

Many thanks for providing feedback to our neonatal team and for your other lovely post on midwifery care. Walking into an ICU environment can be extremely frightening, the sounds, smell and activity in the area can all be extremely intimidating. Im delighted to read you received care that recognised the trauma of preterm birth. The team are exceptional in neonates and work tirelessly to deliver high quality care that is kind and thoughtfull. As you can imagine, the publication of the options appraisal model has caused some worry for our families and staff. We are still working through the detail to understand what is means for our Lanarkshire community.

I hope you are all settled back at home ok and your lovely daughter is thriving well. I do hope you and your wife are recovering well.

Again, im really gratefull for your feedback and sharing comments on the published paper on redesign.

Many thanks

Cheryl

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