Neonatal webpage

Welcome to our dedicated page for the Neonatal Unit at our Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. We work closely with parents to provide care and treatment to their newborn babies who may, for a variety of reasons, require a period of time within the specialised environment on our unit.

Our unit

We are a local neonatal unit providing intensive, high dependency and special care for premature babies, as well as babies born at term who need medical support. Our unit was purpose built in 2014 and provides care for up to 22 babies.
We provide areas for three levels of care where your baby can receive the treatment and support best suited to their condition:

Where your baby might be cared for

Intensive Care Room

Babies who are premature, or babies who are born full term but are unwell who require our highest level of support

Bay A
Classed as a High Dependency bay (HDU), this is for babies who need help with breathing (via CPAP or Hi-Flow), fluids through a cannula, and continuous monitoring.

Bays B & C
Babies not requiring intensive or high dependency care. May include equipment for monitoring baby’s condition, for giving oxygen, or for help with feeding (e.g. nasogastric tube).

We want you to have every possible opportunity to spend as much time as you can with your baby. The bond you nurture at this time can benefit you and your baby for life. Therefore, we discourage the term ‘visiting’ on the unit.

Parents are seen as partners in care rather than visitors to the unit. As such, parents are encouraged to come to the unit at any time, day or night. Parents can do all the normal things parents do, such as nappy changes, feeds, bathing, as well as being trained to give tube feeds and medications.

There are security doors on the entrances to the unit. Friendly staff will answer the doorbell as soon as possible, but please bear in mind that if they are in the middle of something there may be a short delay in letting you in. We are each responsible for ensuring the door is closed after use, and that nobody follows us into the unit.
In the event of an emergency, neonatal staff will inform you of what to do. Your baby’s safety is of paramount importance.

Parking your car is free of charge. Please speak to your nurse or ward clerk who will take your car registration details, then leave the rest to us.

Further information on how to get to our hospital can be found here or in the Parents’ Guide Booklet

Resources for families

Our Parents’ Guide Booklet can be accessed here and covers a wide range of information including what to expect, facilities for families, help and support, feeding your baby, daily routine and much more.

The STORK app is also available for parents, carers and families which provides information and training on aspects relating to reducing the risks for infant mortality (baby death) in the region. This includes information such as:

Teaching basic life support
How to deal with a choking child
How to recognise when your baby is getting ill
How to keep your baby safe while sleeping
Breastfeeding support
The risks of smoking in pregnancy and how to keep your home/care smoke free
Coping with your crying baby
Signposting to healthy lifestyles advice

Our team

While on our Unit, you may come across a range of different team members such as doctors, advanced neonatal nurse practitioners, neonatal nurses, neonatal health care assistants, dieticians, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, housekeepers, pharmacists, ward clerks and more. You can look at the Parents’ Guide Booklet further down this page to see all the roles and the uniforms they wear.

Outreach team

Our Neonatal Community Outreach Team specialises in the care of some babies following their discharge home from the Neonatal Unit.

This can be an anxious time for the whole family and the team will try to ensure that the transfer from hospital to home is smooth and stress free, and that you feel supported, happy and confident to care for your baby after you go home.

The team is made up of a number of neonatal staff with many years of experience within all areas of the neonatal unit. The team looks after babies discharged from the Neonatal Unit that meet the criteria for referral. This includes babies going home on oxygen or who require support with tube feeding.

They will be involved in your baby’s care until they are term plus four weeks old following their discharge home and longer, if required and agreed with your baby’s consultant. Once you no longer require the support of the team, your baby will be discharged to the care of your health visitor.

Full information on the team, including criteria for referral to the Community Outreach team and contact details, can be found on the dedicated leaflet here.

National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP)

The National Neonatal Audit Programme, or NNAP, is a national system for assessing the level and consistency of care between neonatal units across England, Scotland and Wales.

All neonatal units report key sets of information to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). This allows for a freely available annual report, and a means for families to compare aspects of their neonatal unit against national and regional averages.

The audit measures include temperature, whether Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is screened on time, mother’s milk at discharge rates, levels of specific treatments, and some key care-related performance data.

Clinical data is entered by us into the BadgerNet record system where it is used by the NNAP project team. All information is stored securely and used in accordance with UK Data Protection legislation. NNAP analysis only takes place once all identifiable information has been removed.

If you would rather not be part of the programme, you have every right to opt out. Please speak to your nurse and we will ensure you and your baby’s information is not passed on to BadgerNet or NNAP.

Current and past annual reports can be accessed from the NNAP section of the RCPCH website