Special Care Baby Unit
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Special Care Baby Unit
Every parent hopes that their baby will be born healthy but for some families it will be necessary for their newborn to be admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) for stabilisation and care.
There are many different reasons why a baby might need to be admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit. Your baby may have been born earlier than expected, need help with their breathing, feeding, temperature control or weight gain and may need close observation and monitoring.
Some parents may be aware that their baby will require admission to the unit before their baby is born but for many families, their baby’s admission to SCBU is unexpected and can be very upsetting. Staff will explain the reason your baby has been admitted and will answer any questions you may have and ensure you are kept updated on your baby's progress.
The unit is close to Labour Ward and Theatres to make transfer of babies requiring extra care, quick and easy. We have 10 cots including one for babies requiring intensive care, and one for babies needing high dependency care.
Our unit is staffed by doctors and nurses with specialist skills and experience in looking after premature and sick babies and is open 24 hours per day, 365 days a year.
Visiting Information
As parents, you are welcome on the unit at any time and have unrestricted access to your baby, this includes overnight. We encourage you to be with your baby as much as you are able, you are their primary care-giver. We welcome siblings to the unit between 8am and 8pm.
In certain circumstances, we can arrange for you to have a nominated support partner, that is not a parent, to support you on the unit. Please speak to the nurse in charge if you would like to discuss this. If you would like to have other visitors on the unit, please be aware that we can only have one parent and one visitor by the cot side at a time. They are welcome to join you on the unit between 8am to 1pm, then 4pm to 8pm.
If parents would like to request privacy with your baby then we are able to put up privacy screens that you can use around the cot side, or (when we have capacity to facilitate and baby’s condition allows), move your baby into a separate environment to support this.
As with the rest of the maternity unit, SCBU has a very strict hygiene policy. We ask that all visitors, staff and parents:
- Wash their hands on entering and exiting the unit and use the hand gel provided at each cot;
- Remove outdoor coats prior to entering SCBU;
- Do not bring flowers onto SCBU;
- Please do not come to SCBU if unwell in any way and especially if suffering from a cough, cold, diarrhoea, vomiting, chicken pox, shingles, measles or any other infections illness.
- We also request that mobile devices are used sparingly whilst on SCBU to reduce the level of noise experienced by the babies.
Encouraging parent participation
Parents are encouraged to participate in the planning and delivery of care to their baby – however, the extent of their involvement may depend upon factors such as their baby’s condition and their own levels of confidence. We encourage all parents to do as much as they feel able to do and we support parents to learn to care for their baby. For example, giving feeds via a feeding tube, changing nappies and giving mouth-care and eye-care. We also support and encourage mothers to express their breastmilk for their baby as this is of particular importance to small or sick babies.
As the SCBU is the first nursery for many babies, we also encourage parents to bring in items that will help to personalise their baby’s cot space or that they know are going to be ‘special’ items to their baby as they grow. Items such as teddy bears, blankets, comforters and family photographs are all lovely additions to a cot or incubator and help to make a baby’s cot look less clinical and more homely. When babies are able to be dressed, we also welcome clothing that may have been purchased especially for the new arrival – nursing staff will be happy to help and advice upon when it is possible to dress your baby and the type of clothing that is likely to be most appropriate.
If any parents wish to discuss any issues regarding their baby or their home circumstances they may either speak to the Nurse /Nursery Nurse caring for their baby or ask to speak to the neonatal unit manager. Parents have access to medical staff at all times, and an appointment can be made to speak with the consultant with overall responsibility for your baby’s care.
SCBU have two overnight stay rooms for both parent's to stay in with their baby to help encourage close contact.
When babies are ready to go home, we offer an outreach service that provides telephone support and advice in addition to appointments in your home before and after discharge.
Working with other hospitals
We are part of a regional network that works together to ensure our babies receive the best possible treatment and care – this network comprises sixteen hospitals and it covers Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Babies who need longer term intensive care, or babies who are born less than 30 weeks at Hinchingbrooke, are transferred out to one of the larger hospitals within our region by a specialist neonatal transport service. More often than not, babies from Hinchingbrooke Hospital are transferred to The Rosie Hospital in Cambridge but, occasionally it is necessary for babies to be transferred to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Luton and Dunstable Hospital or Great Ormond Street Hospital.