Our Service
Some new-born infants may be too small, too sick or born prematurely and require additional help when they are born, these infants may need to be cared for at a Neonatal Unit (South West Acute Hospital) or in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Altnagelvin Area Hospital). It is sometimes necessary to transfer babies to other intensive care units if they require more specialised treatment.
South West Acute Hospital 
has a 6 bedded Neonatal Unit which provides Special Care for infants over 34 weeks gestation and is located in Enniskillen. Altnagelvin Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides Intensive Care; High Dependency Care and Special Care for 18 babies over 27 weeks gestation.
Our neonatal units provide high quality individualised care for your infant and ensure that parents and the family are at the centre of and included in decisions regarding your baby’s care. Our medical and nursing teams work closely with the multidisciplinary team to ensure your baby receives high quality patient centred care.
When your baby is admitted to one of our Neonatal Units we encourage you to visit often and to help care for your baby. Our nursing staff will discuss all aspects of care and assist with establishment of oral feeding, parent craft and preparation for home. We have achieved UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Accreditation and all our staff are trained to assist you with breastfeeding, expression of breastmilk and encourage skin-to-skin contact.
Our units are staffed 24 hours a day by our neonatal specialist nursing team, who will encourage you to take part in daily ward rounds and support you throughout your Neonatal journey. The nurse caring for your baby will be able to update you on your baby’s progress when you visit or telephone the unit.
We work within the Northern Ireland Neonatal Network. The Neonatal Network Northern Ireland leads on the provision of safe, high quality services for specialist neonatal care through good practice and the development of outcome-led services. The engagement and participation of staff and families are central to the work of the Neonatal Network ensuring that their contribution to continuous service improvement is addressed through the network’s work plan.
Additional Resources
Hospital Virtual Tours
Take a virtual tour of South West Acute and Altnagelvin Hospitals to get ready for your hospital visit.
Scan the QR codes or click on the links below for more information.
Neonatal Virtual Tour – South West Acute Hospital
Neonatal Virtual Tour – Altnagelvin Area Hospital
-
Chapter 7 Links
Having a premature or sick baby can be a long and stressful journey. Here are some resources and links to help you during your stay and when you go home.
Links to other supports and resources
Support for Parents
The Family Integrated Care website offers Educational Resources to support Family Integrated Care for parents and staff. Learn how to recognise your baby’s behaviour, support their development and support skin to skin holding.
Small wonders are a series of 12 videos which explore the neonatal journey from before birth to one year later – Watch the small wonder series
Visit the Bliss website for lots of information and support for parents including information about caring for your baby on the neonatal unit, supporting parents’ mental health, neonatal leave and more. The website also translated into more than 130 languages.
A pdf Peeps leaflet is available to view and download for information if your baby or child has experienced an HIE (Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy) event, this leaflet may be of interest to you. We’re here to let you know about some of the available support and to reassure you that you’re not on your own.
Family Support Staff visit the neonatal unit, offering one to one emotional and practical support when your baby is in hospital. They can support you with a variety of services they offer while you are in the unit, upon discharge and when you are home. You can also access hospital-grade TinyLife breast pumps to support breastfeeding your baby. TinyLife staff wear purple tunics. For more information visit the TinyLife website
Aware NI supports families of premature babies to develop and strengthen their resilience and reduce isolation by connecting with their peers and the wider community. Visit the Aware NI website
Twins Trust run antenatal and parenting courses throughout the country and manage an active online networking community with closed Facebook groups for many groups including single parents, families with children with special educational needs, grandparents and those who have sadly been bereaved. Visit the Twins Trust website
Sands offers a safe space for anyone affected by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby, whether you’re a parent, sibling, grandparent, healthcare professional or friend. Visit the Sands website
Grants are available for families living on a low income, raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young person whose additional support needs meet our eligibility criteria. Hospital Social Work can often help support this application. For information on applications for the Family Fund, visit the Family Fund website.
Infant Development
EiSMART is an evidence based framework to give high risk babies the best start in life. We span all aspects of a child’s development: Sensory, Motor, Attention and Regulation, and Relationships. Professionals and parents work Together to support premature and sick infants from birth (Early Intervention). Visit the EiSMART website
Information from The Royal College of Ophthalmologists about ROP Screening – access the pdf document of the leaflet
This resource was developed for parents by parents and health and social care providers working together. It is written with BOTH mums and dads in mind. Parents have told us that support and information for when they are at home with their premature baby is important to them. The resource is organised around topics raised by parents during focus groups and the content includes practical advice and lots of short videos of parents and professionals that we hope you as a parent will find helpful. Access the Life At Home resource by TinyLife
The Lullaby Trust exists to keep babies safe and to keep grieving families supported, there website provides lots of information on reducing risks. Visit The Lullaby Trust website
Feeding
For lots of useful information including videos to support expressing breast milk, infant feeding, skin to skin and safe sleep visit the Neonatal Milk Drop in Page on the padlet website
Transport
For Information on planning your journey to the neonatal unit by public transport visit Translink Journey Planner
Podcasts
Clinical Psychology have produced a series of podcasts called ‘Let’s Talk’ for children, parents and families to support the psychological and emotional experience in living with health-related difficulties, spending time on the neonatal unit and managing the experience of hospitalisation. – Visit the Northern Health and Social Care Trust Podcast page
This podcast is hosted by the co-founders of Miracle Moon, Frankie, a Clinical Psychologist and Georgie. They talk about all things NICU, birth trauma and perinatal mental health with you. They are a couple of past NICU Mums who have got together to support others through their NICU journeys and beyond. Listen to the NICU Space by Mircale Moon on Spotify. This podcast can be accessed on other platforms
Apps
The IFDC – Integrated Family Delivered Neonatal Care app provides parents with easy access to information that can help them to understand their baby’s journey, medical terminology they may hear used also contains space for parents to document memories with their baby and record key information like feeding data and details of skin-to-skin contact. Access the app on The IFDC – Integrated Family Delivered Neonatal Care website
To better support the mental health of NICU parents everywhere, we developed a 12-day program specifically for them so that they could access clinically-validated support during—and after—their NICU stay. Download the Canopie app
The DapPad resource should become a valuable tool for fathers during this sensitive time, as well as growing into a ‘keepsake’ book for the father, child and family, with spaces in which to record information and emotions. Access the DadPad App with a Neonatal Guide for New Dads from the DadPa website.
Locations where this service is delivered
Contacts
South West Acute Hospital - Neonatal
02866382013Altnagelvin Area Hospital - Neonatal