To create a holistic model of care that unites baby-centred care, scientific expertise & design to create a highly beneficial healing environment in this innovative and cutting edge area of medicine which responds to an increasing demand over the last 5 years

The proposed design of the new NICU embraces so many of the features required when caring for premature and desperately sick babies. The plan provides the right environment for baby development and parent participation as well as good working conditions for delivering excellent medical and nursing care.

This design includes features that will reduce the stress caused by noise, bright light, and traffic – allowing babies to sleep and grow in comfort. It will help parents and staff to work more closely to provide the loving care that makes high tech neonatal care work at its best.

Inga Warren Dip COT, MSc

Consultant Occupational Therapist in Neonatology and NIDCAP Trainer St Mary’s Hospital, London

Enhancing general clinical care and improved outcomes by:

• Reducing stress by creating a sense of confidence that every baby & family will receive the best possible care, including through improved support, information about their baby’s care, communication / confidential discussions, & effective staff handovers
• Assisting parents both by reducing isolation & in helping them to engage in their babies’ care with health professionals rather than feeling they are ‘in the way’ of what can be very complex treatment
• Easier access for specialised equipment, eg. neurological cooling, X-Ray etc
• Improved visibility / monitoring of the babies & their life-saving equipment
• Improved ability for emergency interventions – safer & with less impact on other babies & parents
• Enabling families, including Grandparents, to visit to provide essential emotional support
• Enabling mothers to successfully develop breast feeding techniques in improved surroundings, leading to babies thriving better & gaining weight at an earlier stage, and going home earlier
• Increased capacity for parents to stay overnight (both in emergencies & in preparation for going home) leading to babies going home sooner with more confident parents
• Increased capacity of the unit to care for and discharge patients more quickly
• Improved transitional ‘flow’ through the unit leading to the parent’s sense of progress

Enhancing effective developmental care and improved outcomes - through careful interventions, aided by an appropriate NICU environment, where:

• Vulnerable babies are not exposed to toxic substances that could impact on their respiratory health through the use of materials / the construction process (polyvinyl chloride, neoprene, formaldehyde etc)
• Flooring and all other surfaces carefully chosen (for the same reason) for their ability to be cleaned with non-toxic substances
• Individualised developmental care practices that help maintain sleep patterns of newborn babies and influence early neurodevelopment / weight gain can be successfully developed, decreasing incubator days & length of stay
• The micro environment of each individual baby can be controlled depending on their needs
• Through good design, correct ventilation and heating / cooling levels can be maintained
• Through careful observation, babies over sensitive to external stimuli are identified
• Through good design and operation, the levels of ambient & direct light exposure, plus noise can be controlled, reducing stress for the babies, parents & staff
• Cocooning techniques to simulate in-utero can be adopted
• Beneficial techniques involving gentle touch, hand grasping / facial stimulation, and exposure to mother’s scent can be practised whilst painful / negative stimulation is decreased
• ‘Kangaroo’ skin to skin contact techniques can be achieved by parents

 Research & disseminating knowledge & expertise – through education, training & information within the NHS

The new NICU will create an improved sense of optimism and well-being through a beautiful, lighter, brighter and bigger unit.  Its therapeutic environment will be of tangible benefit to babies, parents & staff, set standards for replication and be a tool to educate others in the sustainability of future health units throughout the NHS