"Our baby girl Ava was cared for ..."

What I liked

Our baby girl Ava was cared for in the NICU, room 1, by some truely amazing people. Ava's nurses went above and beyond their level of duty to make the whole family comfortable and supported throughout the 9 days we spent at NNUH. Ava was not a premature baby, unfortunately she suffered lack of oxygen at birth and we were transfered to NNUH for specialist cooling treatment.

The doctor explained and went through every possible senario that we could be faced with during Ava's treatment, and we truely value their openess and sympathy during those difficult first days.

Our whole family, and there were a lot of us at times, felt welcomed, at ease and truely grateful for every second of visiting time we were allowed. The playroom was well stocked with videos and a few toys to keep our 5yr old busy during the long days. Parent rooms were comfortable and it was great to be so close and be able to see our baby 24hours a day.

A truely fantastic group of doctors and nurses who carry out an amazing job to not only support such early and sick babies, but also the support they offer the families too.

What could be improved

The only thing we asked during our stay was that on the night that Ava got really poorly and we didn't think she'd live until the next day, was if our 5 yr old could stay with us in the parents room we had. We understand that for healh and safety reasons this was not possible at the time, so my husband had to leave the hospital over night and go home, knowing he could receive a call in the middle of the night with bad news. It would have just made that situation a little less frustrating and stressful.

Maybe difficult and unique situations like this could be allowed at the units discretion, with sighning of disclaimer forms/security being aware for fire evacuation purposes.

Anything else?

50% off restaurant food during the stay was very good, as 2-3 meals a day for 3 people added up to some amount! Its a shame that didnt include pre-packed sandwiches, as you dont always want hot food. Also lack of change in the till caused many frustrating times as we had to make sure we carried plenty of change, many cold dinners waiting for someone higher up to bring change for the tills, and this wasnt at busy periods either!

Reduced rate car park also super, maybe for long term visitors to units like the NICU coulde benefit from a reduced rate weekly ticket?

Hospital was always very clean and tidy, except for dining area, at times all trolleys were full of trays so people had no choice but to pile up trays of dirty plates on the end tables where they sat for some days upto an hour. Maybe restaurant could work on some improvements?