Parents as Partners in Lothian Neonatal Units:
Working together in the neonatal units to improve outcomes for newborn babies and their families
Newborn Care Collaborative (NCC)
The Newborn Care Collaborative (NCC) of Lothian Neonatal Service is a multi-professional team dedicated to improving the care of newborn babies and their families, through a process called quality improvement.
The Newborn Care Collaborative brings together the medical and nursing teams and the parents of babies admitted to the neonatal units. They meet three times a year to plan and monitor various projects.
Invitation to neonatal parents
The NCC is inviting parents of babies who have been admitted to the neonatal unit in the Simpson or the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) in St John’s Hospital in the last 2 years to join their team. You do not require any specific skills or qualifications other than being a parent.
Please use our contact us form for more information about what is involved, selecting NCC Team:
This would be for a period of at least one year and a maximum of two years.
The role would involve either:
Join the online NCC meetings and take part in discussions about the improvement programme. We ask that you attend at least 2 out of the 3 meetings per year. They are usually held midweek from 14:00 to 16:00. The next meeting is Wednesday 30th November 2022 at 14:00-16:00.
Join one of the improvement programmes detailed below and help to develop the improvement work through your own experience of your baby’s time in the neonatal unit. This is likely to take the form of online meetings (3-4 times a year as agreed by the group) and responding to emails. If you wish, you will also be welcome to join the NCC meetings to learn about the other projects.
Current projects for 2022-2023 include:
Family Experience - We ask parents for their views when their baby is being cared for in the neonatal unit and also when the baby goes home. This information is essential to develop the neonatal service for the benefit of babies and families.
Keeping Mums and Babies Together - we want to avoid separating mothers from babies by caring for them together in the postnatal ward.
The Golden Drops Project - we support mothers to express their breast milk within the first hour after birth so that their baby can receive this precious first milk (golden drops) and we support them to continue doing this as it benefits their baby’s health and brain development. This project is supported by the Golden Tips and Golden Basins initiative.
The Perinatal Optimisation Pathway - we have put in place a number of measures to create the best conditions possible before and after birth for babies who are born early.
Reducing bronchopulmonary dysplasia - babies with this condition have difficulty breathing by themselves. We have put in place a range of measures starting at birth and continuing through the neonatal stay to support them.
Infection Prevention Programme - this reminds anyone working in or visiting the neonatal units of the extreme importance of following guidelines to keep babies safe from contamination and infections.