Special Care Baby Unit officially opened in ribbon cutting ceremony | Our News

Parents and babies being cared for in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Hinchingbrooke Hospital will now benefit from fantastic new facilities, following a donation from Huntingdonshire Children’s Charity Dreamdrops.

The SCBU ward recently underwent a complete overhaul of the facilities as part of some necessary structural work to the unit.

The refurbishment included a parent’s room and dedicated space available for any new mum, who may be bed-bound, to be wheeled across from Labour Ward to the unit to be with their baby.

The whole ward was completely stripped back to rewire and redesign the overall layout, including a new nurses’ station, gas lines, air conditioning, staff room, parent room as well as the new dedicated space for immobile parents to spend time with their baby.

Local charity Dreamdrops then donated an additional £33,000, which provided the added extras that aren’t included in the Trust funding to give the ward a homely environment. The parent’s room has been kitted out with crockery, cutlery, furniture, a microwave oven and fridge, so parents can have a space for themselves to take a break, whilst still being on the unit. Wall murals have also been installed in every room and toys have been provided for siblings to play with when they visit.

The unit was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, by the previous Dreamdrops charity Chair, Anne-Marie Hamilton, who was also joined by her successor Christine Luckham, as the new charity Chair, plus Dreamdrops committee members and previous and current SCBU staff.

Deborah Milham, SCBU Ward Manager at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, said: “This has been a wonderful opportunity for us to thank the team from Dreamdrops for their generous donation and for us to showcase our recently refurbished facilities.

“The unit looks and feels like a home-from-home environment. Parents never choose to spend the first days, weeks or months in SCBU, so we do as much as we possibly can to create a welcoming environment, where they can bring siblings, read to their baby to encourage the bonding process and give them the opportunity to have a break in the parents’ room.

“We have a unit that we are very proud of and the feedback from parents using the facilities has been really positive.”

Anne-Marie Hamilton, said: “I would like to congratulate North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust for making this a priority and getting this very important job done. Dreamdrops are thrilled to see the money ring-fenced for SCBU being used to provide those little ‘extras’ for the unit that are not provided by the NHS. Some of it has gone on the stunning wall art that has been designed by Just Digital from Huntingdon.

“Hinchingbrooke SCBU is held in the very highest esteem by all the families that they have cared for over the years, often in difficult and far from ideal conditions, and now, finally, this wonderful, dedicated, caring and hard-working team have been rewarded with this amazing, newly refurbished unit that they so richly deserve.”

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Notes to Editors:

• Hinchingbrooke Hospital was built in 1984 and is one of four hospitals in the East of England impacted by RAAC, which is reaching the end of its operational life. North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust is currently working on a rolling programme to reinforce the roof on the main hospital site.
• In addition to this the site is undergoing redevelopment works, which has been separated into three phases.
• Phase 1 of the redevelopment saw the Urgent and Emergency Care Centre increase in size, with an Ambulatory Care Unit (ACU), Ambulatory Assessment Unit (AAU), two mental health support rooms and an increase in Emergency Department space. This was completed in April 2021.
• Phase 2 is the construction of the Theatres Block which will be completed in the Winter 2023.
• Phase 3 will look at a new hospital build to replace the main hospital site, which is experiencing increasing issues with RAAC.