Newborn Services

Sometimes babies are born prematurely or unexpectedly unwell and require specialist care after birth. Our Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Saint Mary’s, Oxford Road Campus (ORC), Local Neonatal Unit at Wythenshawe Hospital and Local Neonatal Unit at North Manchester General Hospital provide care for babies that are born prematurely from 23 weeks' gestation and above; have health problems that are picked up antenatally (before birth) and postnatally (after birth) or have been born unexpectedly unwell.
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Across our three sites we have 109 cots, and a dedicated multidisciplinary team which looks after over 1600 babies a year who require medical and surgical care.

We have: 69 cots within Saint Mary’s Hospital at the Oxford Road Campus (ORC), 21 cots at Wythenshawe Hospital and 19 at North Manchester General Hospital.

We specialise in providing care for a range of conditions such as:

• Complex respiratory diseases.
• Complex renal conditions.
• Complex cardiac conditions.
• Complex neurological conditions.
• Babies requiring surgical care.
• Complex genetic and metabolic disorders.
• Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening and treatment.

As well as caring for babies in our local areas, we also care for babies that need our specialist care across Greater Manchester and beyond.

Our mission statement

The neonatal unit on the ORC is called the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It mainly provides care for babies who require intensive care, surgical care, or the input from specialists based at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, and also provides care for babies who require high dependency and special care.

The Neonatal Units (NNU) at Wythenshawe and North Manchester General Hospital mainly looks after babies who need high dependency or special care. It provides short periods of intensive care for infants who may need transfer to the NICU, ORC, if this care requirement should continue. Babies who are making good progress at the NICU, ORC and getting better will sometimes be moved to Wythenshawe hospital or North Manchester to continue their care before they go home. Babies are moved between the two units depending on clinical needs. We will have a discussion with parents before any baby is moved.

All three neonatal units work closely together and essentially function as one large neonatal unit, sharing staff, policies and guidelines. The aim of our service is to ensure that all infants and their families admitted to the St. Mary’s service on any of the sites will receive the same high quality care wherever they may be. Care is evidence based making use of the most up to date national and regional guidelines and we also ensure that the family are integrated into all aspects of their baby’s neonatal journey.

NICU (Oxford Road Campus) Virtual Tour

Our philosophy

The care and treatment of the babies and their families is paramount and is the primary objective of our Newborn Services.  We aim to provide the best possible care in an environment that is appropriate for their medical, surgical, developmental and social needs. Babies and their families have every right to expect care from a highly trained and supervised multi-disciplinary team.

We respect our parents’ views and wishes and we really encourage FiCare (Family Integrated Care), providing information and guidance which meets their individual needs.  We acknowledge the need for parents to be partners in their baby’s care and believe that this will be achieved by mutual trust and effective communication that maintains privacy, dignity and confidentiality.

 

Moving infants to their local neonatal unit

The St. Mary’s service (NICU) on the Oxford road site is also the referral centre for patients in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria who require surgery or highly specialised paediatric care.  When there are no cots available in NICU, patients have to be transferred to Liverpool or Leeds, and sometimes as far off as Birmingham and London. It is for this reason that once babies no longer require intensive care, they are transferred back to their Local Neonatal Unit (LNU) where they will stay until they are ready to go home. Local Neonatal Units are neonatal units that specialise in delivering care that helps babies get ready for discharge home. Transfer to your  local unit also means that the Consultant paediatricians who will provide follow up care will get to know your baby  better prior to discharge home.

The process of transfers within Greater Manchester is overseen and facilitated by the North West Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (NWODN). Further information can be found on the local neonatal units on their website.

Patient testimonial

Fantastic care for our premature son in Newborn Services for the past 2 weeks. Excellent clinical decision making, fantastic caring, empathetic staff, and so many people willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Contact information

Oxford Road Campus

Newborn Intensive Care (Ward 68) is based on the 2nd floor in Saint Mary’s Hospital, Oxford Road Campus.

Telephone number:
Reception – (0161) 701 2700
Each room has its own telephone number.  Please ask the nursing staff for details.

Saint Mary’s at Wythenshawe

The Neonatal Unit at Wythenshawe is located within the Maternity Department, Entrance 13 on the first floor.

Telephone number:

Reception/ Intensive Care (out of hours) – (0161) 291 2932

North Manchester General Hospital

The Neonatal Unit at North Manchester General Hospital is located in K block, main entrance 1.

Telephone number:

Reception/ Intensive Care (out of hours) – (0161) 625 8227

Parental Access and Visiting times

We encourage you to be with your baby as much as you wish seven days a week. Parents / care givers have open access to Newborn Services and are encouraged to spend as much time on the unit as possible. Support will be given to promote Family Integrated Care and siblings are welcome after the ward round. At the present time, relatives and friends are unable to visit you and your baby.

Wythenshawe and North Manchester General Hospital

Parents are able to attend ward rounds for their baby. Other visitors can attend after the ward round has finished and up until 9.00 pm

Restricted visiting between 1.00 -3.00 pm for parents/carers only during Quiet Time.

Management team

The team responsible for managing our Newborn Services is:

  • Dr Ajit Mahaveer, Clinical Head of Division
  • Victoria Rawlinson, Divisional Director
  • Alison O’Doherty, Head of Nursing
  • Louise Frampton, Lead Nurse
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Consultants