Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been supporting the nationally promoted World Prematurity Day, which took place on Saturday 17th November.
World Prematurity Day is an annual campaign to raise awareness of premature births and the impact that these can have on families, and to work with partners around the world to try to prevent premature births.
Staff on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals marked this year’s World Prematurity Day with a tea party in the parent craft room within the Sharoe Green Unit on Saturday 17th November from 10am – 3pm.
The team also launched the new VCreate service as part of their celebrations for World Prematurity Day. VCreate is a secure video messaging service that allows clinical staff to record and send videos and photo updates to parents whose babies are on the neonatal unit.
Richa Gupta, Consultant Paediatric Neonatologist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “We pride ourselves on our holistic approach to delivering the best neonatal care possible, and are always looking at ways to enhance experiences of patients on our unit who can be going through a very stressful time. World Prematurity Day is a great opportunity to get people talking about premature births and enable people to share their experiences to help others.”
“I would like to thank Baby Beat in particular who support us to optimise care throughout the whole patient journey.”
The Baby Beat Appeal, the hospital’s charity which raises funds for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Maternity Unit are grateful for all of the support they receive from the local community, allowing the units to have the very latest technology to date.
Supporter of Baby Beat and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Lynsey Cotton, recently organised a 13 mile sponsored walk from the Knowles Arms pub in Blackburn to Royal Preston Hospital in order to raise money for the neonatal units at both Preston and Burnley, where she gave birth to her daughter, Katie.
Lynsey said: “Being in hospital was a traumatic experience for me. We spent three months in Preston and didn’t know whether Katie would survive or not – it was really scary. I have organised various fundraising events and activities previously, including sponsored walks, as well as creating gift packages for families on the ward as I know how difficult it can be.”
“I get lots of lovely messages from parents saying how grateful they are for the packages that we make up for them. Some have brought tears to my eyes – happy tears though. I know how hard it is to be on the unit, especially on special occasions, so want to let them know that someone is thinking about them. I do bags for Mother’s Day, Easter, Christmas etc. We just want to give something back and let other families know that they are not alone.”
Lynsey has raised a fantastic £5,200 so far, with donations still coming in.