Nottingham neonatal expansion will create 21 extra spaces for poorly babies at QMC

The £32.5m plan to increase the number of neonatal cots at the hospital from 17 to 38 is expected to be complete by December.

It is hoped the expansion will reduce the need to transfer some babies out of the area when cots in Nottingham are full.

Construction work has started and in the meantime, 12 premature babies have been transferred into a new temporary unit at the hospital.

The scheme, called the Maternity and Neonatal Redesign Programme, was first discussed in the early 2000s.

Jenni Twinn, programme director, said it was ‘amazing’to meet the milestone of work starting.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) is the main neonatal intensive care service for the region, caring for around 1,000 babies and their families each year at the QMC and at City Hospital.

But Dr Lleona Lee, clinical lead for the programme, said some babies have to be transferred out of Nottingham and sometimes beyond the East Midlands due to the shortage in intensive care cots.

The plans also include dedicated areas for parents including bedrooms, a bereavement suite, a play area and kitchen for families.

Around 8,500 babies are born across NUH every year and the changes will affect around 250 of those.

Dr Lee said: “We’ve successfully moved our 12 babies from our old unit into the space we’re sitting in now.

“We moved in September 2023.

"We had one day which was carefully planned and successfully moved all of our babies.

“Each baby came with its own transport team and its own incubator.

"Families could choose to walk with their babies if they wanted to.

“The next phase is to build our new unit and to hopefully open in December.

“We often run at full capacity and that’s why there’s a great clinical need for us to expand our cots.

"We are too often in a situation where we can’t say yes to our next admission.

“The extra cots will make a huge difference for families and staff.”

Dr Lee added that, at times, babies have to be transferred out of Nottingham and even the East Midlands due to capacity issues at QMC.

She continued: “When it happens, it’s a very difficult and heartbreaking conversation.

“We only do it when we absolutely have to.

"We try wherever possible to move babies with their mothers but we may end up splitting up families.

"We try our hardest to get families back into Nottingham as soon as we can.”

Ms Twinn added that the original space was ‘very small’ for staff and families.

She said: “Privacy and dignity was a huge challenge.

"Families would perhaps be receiving bad news or having a difficult conversation literally side by side with another family.

“We are building the new unit within the walls of QMC so it is challenging.

“For the families and staff to eventually have the new unit at the end of the year is such an achievement for us as a trust – it’s amazing.”

The project is jointly funded by NHS England and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

NUH also funded the temporary move, which cost £2m.