Royal Surrey’s ‘Family Centred’ Neonatal Unit Wins Gold Award

Published on: 15 Nov, 2022
Updated on: 16 Nov, 2022

The SCBU team and Bliss Charity judges with the Bliss Baby Charter Gold Award

The Royal Surrey County Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) has been awarded the Bliss Baby Charter Gold Award in recognition of its high-quality, outstanding family-centred care.

The award has been given against a national background in which sick newborns in some areas of the UK are dying at twice the rate of seriously ill babies in other areas and experts warning action needs to be taken to tackle the “striking variation”.

A team of assessors from a charity for babies born premature or sick, Bliss, praised the professionalism and welcoming nature of the Royal Surrey’s SCBU team saying they were inspired by the overwhelmingly positive experiences of the parents that they spoke to.

Holly Sullivan, Bliss Baby Charter Programme Lead, said: “It’s a real pleasure to let you know that following the fantastic work by staff on your unit, we would like to award you with your Bliss Baby Charter Accreditation. Huge congratulations.”

The Bliss Baby Charter awards were set up to standardise care in neonatal units across the country and to encourage a family-centred approach and parent involvement in their baby’s care.

As well as noting the unit’s homely and friendly feel, the charity’s rigorous assessment praised the strong team culture that has built up mutual trust and respect between staff and families.

The assessors commended the unit’s comfortable, clean facilities. Feedback from parents showed they felt well supported and cared for and that their babies were receiving the best possible care.

Parents described SCBU as a lovely unit with very patient staff who made them feel welcome and at home from the minute they arrived on the unit.

The Bliss assessors commented that team leaders in SCBU offered good guidance for colleagues on breastfeeding and developmental care, allowing a consistent and supportive approach across the unit. Feedback from families reflected the effective leadership, with parents commenting on very positive experiences of feeding their babies and receiving practical support to help them.

SCBU staff were also praised for helping to build parents’ confidence in all areas of caring for their baby prior to leaving the unit to go home. The unit’s psychotherapist was recognised for providing extensive support to both families and staff.

Amy Stubbs, deputy director of Midwifery and head of Nursing for Women and Children said: “I’m extremely proud of our compassionate and dedicated SCBU team. The team are passionate about providing a high standard of care for families and babies and they thoroughly deserve this recognition for their professionalism, skills and hard work.

“We are very focused on helping parents become active partners in the care of their premature or poorly babies and the team are extremely good at explaining procedures and involving parents fully. We always work hard to make sure that family well-being is at the heart of our service.

“I want to say a massive thank you to Fiona England, who was the Baby Charter lead for the unit and worked so hard to make this happen.”

Giezl Pulanco, SCBU Manager, added: “The Gold Baby Charter Award truly is a testament to our continued commitment and dedication to providing the highest standards of family-centred care.  I am extremely proud of the team and I would like to thank all staff and parents who were an amazing credit to our Bliss journey. The contribution of each and every person has borne fruit. We are looking forward to the next stage of our journey.”

Royal Surrey’s team of specially trained neonatal nurses who work on SCBU offer individualised care to babies born at 31 weeks and over. The unit has ten cots with four high-dependency incubators and six special care cots.

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