By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
The number of neonatal beds at the Queen’s Medical Centre is set to more than double from 17 to 38 by 2023.
The Neonatal Unit at City Hospital has 24 cots but babies requiring scans or surgical care are currently transferred from the City Hospital to the QMC campus.
As part of the plans, the number of intensive care and high dependency cots at the City site would be reduced.
The local NHS says this would reduce transfers between sites.
Around 8,500 babies are born across Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (which runs the QMC and City Hospital) every year and the changes will affect around 250 of those babies.
Nottingham City Councillors approved the plans during a health scrutiny meeting October 13.
Documents stated: “The Nottingham Neonatal Service does not currently have the capacity needed to fulfil its service specification and provide intensive care for all Nottingham-booked and North Hub East Midlands Network Operational Delivery Network (EMN ODN) babies who require it.
“For example, between April 2019 and April 2020, 116 babies could not be accommodated in Nottingham, and had to be sent to units where there were available cots, sometimes beyond the East Midlands.
“During that period, babies were sent to Burnley, Luton, Scunthorpe, Bradford and Birmingham.”
Nottinghamshire County Councillors must also approve the plans before they can officially go ahead though.
The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) says the plans will have “significant benefits” for families and babies in the area.
Preparation works would start in March 2023 with the main construction commencing in August 2023, and completed by the end of 2024.
The ICB said feedback from families was “broadly positive”.
Documents added: “Families fed back that their experience of neonatal care was good at both QMC and City Hospital, but that there are things that could be improved with the environment.
“The expansion plans will see a significant increase in space around each of the cots on the unit, and adjustments to the cot numbers at City Hospital will result in additional space around each of those cots also, so families and staff will experience a greatly improved environment to work in and care for
their babies at both sites.”
Some concerns were raised, however, about how the expansion would be staffed.
