"My first and only child was born ..."

What I liked

My first and only child was born 6 weeks prematurely at Colchester General Hospital, we spent nearly one month in SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit). I was barely able to cope with the tremendous stress of the situation together with stress in my career. The entire staff at SCBU were an absolute god send however. Without them being so professional, considerate, experienced and friendly, the whole experience avoided becoming an horrific nightmare.

The equipment I am sure could be more up to date, but the unit is extremely well organized from top to bottom, I was in shock to begin with as I'd never considered a premature birth let alone even been inside an NHS hospital before, but the staff very gently appraised me of the situation and enabled both myself and my wife to deal with the situation.

As our daughter grew stronger I was bowled over by the support from the staff who turned the most stressful part of my life so far into the most amazing. They explained everything I wanted to know and gave us the benefit of their experience.

I can't really thank them enough.

What could be improved

The SCBU incubators looked like they were from the 1950s

As always communication from senior medical staff could be improved, consultants although friendly and helpful are pushed for time, but nothing was missed so i had no concerns.

Canteen food late on a wednesday was a bit dry (pizza), every other day was great though I was impressed and I ate in there for one month solid..

They should find a new system for ease of paying for parking, as train stations do.