Neonatal unit

Our team are made up of:

Medical Staff

Including consultants, specialist registrars and junior doctors. All babies admitted to the unit will be under the care of a consultant paediatrician. The specialist registrar and junior doctors are in training under the supervision of a consultant. The medical staff will see your baby every day and are available to you to discuss your baby’s progress.

Nursing Staff

All our nurses are registered nurses and some have undertaken additional specialist training in the care of newborn babies.

Nursery Nurses

The unit has a small team of nursery nurses who support parents preparing to take their baby home.

Healthcare Assistants

The unit has a small team of Healthcare Assistants who support parents and nurses to care for the babies in the unit.

Paediatric Pharmacist

Our pharmacist provides advice to the nursing and medical staff about any medications.

Paediatric Dietician

Our dietician works closely with the nursing and medical staff to ensure that each baby’s growth and nutrition is monitored. They also provide advice on any specialised milks or supplements that babies may require.

We provide specialist medical and nursing care for babies and their families.

Neonatal Intensive Care

This is the highest level of neonatal care. Babies needing intensive care often need support with their breathing or are very sick and need very close observation. Our unit can provide short-term intensive care for up to two babies at any one time. Babies needing longer-term intensive care are transferred to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in another hospital.

Neonatal High Dependency

This is the second highest level of care. Babies needing high dependency don’t require quite as much help with breathing as babies in Intensive Care and do not need to be observed quite as closely.

Special Care

This provides care for babies who are recovering after spending time in Intensive Care or the High Dependency Unit. Special Care also cares for babies who need support with feeding or treatment for common conditions e.g. infection or jaundice.

Transitional Care

This level of care includes babies who are not unwell but may be at risk of infection and need treatment with antibiotics and close observation. These babies will have most of their care on the postnatal ward but will come to the neonatal unit for treatment and investigations only.

Our unit cares for babies born prematurely and babies who are unwell in the first few days / weeks of life.

Babies are usually admitted to the unit from the delivery suite/ labour ward or the postnatal ward.

Babies who are very premature are routinely transferred to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in another hospital where they have the facilities to offer long-term breathing support and highly specialist care. Once they start to recover these babies are usually transferred back to our unit in Rotherham.

Babies requiring surgical care are routinely transferred to a Neonatal Surgical Centre. These babies are sometimes transferred back to our unit after surgery.