Following a £1m investment in the neonatal unit at Wishaw General Hospital big-hearted staff are giving up their own time to fundraise for the department.
Fiona Collins, neonatal services co-ordinator at Wishaw General, said: “Increased activity in the unit has meant cot capacity has had to be increased from 22 to 29 cots within the last year.
“We have been very lucky that NHS Lanarkshire has made such a huge investment in the unit in recent years with regards to staffing and equipment to meet the needs of this vital service.
“A major refurbishment of the unit is currently being undertaken which will ensure it has state-of-the-art healthcare facilities when it is completed in September.”
Fiona continued: “The team here are dedicated to ensuring our babies and their parents/families receive the best possible care we can provide and we wanted to do something to further improve the first days of life for our babies.
“While we have all the very best of medical equipment to look after premature and critically ill babies, we thought we could help buy some extras which will ensure babies and their families are as comfortable as possible during their stay, which can be a particularly stressful time.”
Wishaw’s neonatal unit provides comprehensive care for critically ill term and premature babies, including intensive care, high dependency, special care and out patient consultation.
It is a regional level three facility, the highest level for a UK neonatal unit (NNU).
This means it provides the full range of neonatal care, with the exception of surgical services.
The unit runs a nitric oxide service, which helps improve the oxygenation of critically ill babies.
It is also a referral centre for total body cooling - one of only a few neonatal units in Scotland which provides this therapy - which cools a baby down to a defined set temperature and helps reduce the severity of the effects of brain injury.
Wishaw’s neonatal team are in the process of organising a series of events from May 2009 to May 2010.
Events, so far, include: a race night, a quiz night, a Gentlemen’s Evening – with Scotland goalkeeping legend Alan Rough the guest speaker – and many more.
The Wishaw NNU fundraising team are looking for raffle prizes, donations and auction items for these events.
If you would also like to raise funds to help the campaign the team would be delighted to hear from you.
For further information on the various events planned, or if you would like to donate any raffle prizes, or auction items, please email fiona.collins@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk