"Neonatal care"

Our son received care from the neonatal ICU team at University Hospital Wishaw on two occasions during the first week of his life. The first was assessment on day three (after discharge), with a two-night stay in postnatal with me for observation and again on day six when he was admitted to neonatal ICU for two nights with a third night on the postnatal ward with me for observations.

We called neonatal direct on both occasions from home late at night when our son brought up blood clots and on both occasions immediate advice was given to attend neonatal straight away. Our son was assessed on both occasions immediately on attendance. Our concerns were taken seriously and steps taken to establish what had caused the blood on both occasions without delay.

The staff went above and beyond to ensure we understood what was happening and supported us entirely throughout both stays. They listened to our concerns as to potential cause which resulted in establishing our son had an allergy to cow’s milk protein. Special mention to advanced practitioners Lisa and Jackie, who assessed him initially on both admissions. 

We cannot praise or commend the neonatal ICU staff enough for the care we received for our son. They went above and beyond in their care of our son, to reassure us, and answer any questions we had. Every staff member we came across from auxiliary staff to consultant level treated us with empathy and kindness. Understandably, I was incredibly upset at times throughout our stay and was supported.

The neonatal ICU department in UHW is, in my view, an essential service, and is crucial and fundamental to the care UHW provides to sick babies.  I think this service is largely unknown until you have to use it and it would be easy for those who haven’t used it to think it isn’t essential. As the mother of a sick baby who used the service, it would have been unbearable to have had to travel far away from our home to use this service if it were to be removed. We are so grateful for the care our son received from the team. 

The nurses I encountered during our time in neonatal also took the time to ensure I had everything I needed when sitting by my son’s incubator for hours on end - signposting me to food and drinks (on one occasion a very kind staff member made me toast in the middle of the night - a small gesture I will never forget), encouraging me to rest, providing support and guidance to express and store my milk whilst my son was fasted, and supported me when I decided to stop breastfeeding when my son’s allergy was identified, which meant I couldn’t continue. Special mention to Lucy in particular who supported me with breastfeeding/expressing whilst she was looking after my son.  She was a wonderful support and showed real understanding to the situation I was in.  

The nurses, advanced practitioners and consultants in neonatal did everything they could to ensure my son could be moved to the post natal ward with me as soon as it was safe to do so. They listened to my concerns when we were being discharged from neonatal to post natal and ensured a plan was in place for feeds. Special mention to Jo, the advanced practitioner who listened to all of my concerns re making up the feeds, medication, both of which she took on board, discussed with me and actioned quickly and appropriately. 

When the plan for feeds being made did not work out when my son was moved to post natal, the staff in neonatal took the time to listen to my concerns, escalate and resolve the issues. Special mention to Lindsay, who was incredible in dealing with this issue immediately and resolved it within ten minutes by escalating to the postnatal unit coordinator. I was incredibly upset and crying when I spoke with her. She and her colleague, Fiona, took me to a side room, comforted me, listened to my concerns and validated them when I was unsure if I was over emotional due to the events leading up to this breakdown. 

We are incredibly grateful to the neonatal team for taking amazing care of our son and getting to the bottom of the issues at hand. We know there is a large staff roll in neonatal ICU, yet every single member of staff we encountered delivered the service with empathy and kindness, communicated effectively and provided exceptional care. The consistency in the level of care was outstanding.

This was one of the most challenging experiences we have both had to deal with and we couldn’t have coped with this without the support and care from the neonatal team.