Meeting of the Parliament 20 September 2023
I am not going to take any interventions.
Like Jackie Baillie, I welcome the opportunity to congratulate Wishaw General’s neonatal multidisciplinary team on being named the UK neonatal team of the year in 2023. The work that the unit does is remarkable, and hearing the words of parents who have written to me confirms that the care that it is providing is inspirational.
The “Best Start” document recommended that the new model of neonatal care should be based on the British Association of Perinatal Medicine definitions of levels of care. That moves us away from the previous descriptions of units as level 1, 2 or 3, and it describes units as neonatal intensive care units, local neonatal units and special care baby units.
I would like to reassure everyone that, under the new model, the scope of the practice that the local neonatal unit will be able to undertake is wider than the previous level 2 definition. The units will continue to provide a level of intensive care and will be able to care for babies born at greater than 27 weeks’ gestation.
The intention with the new model of care is that mothers in suspected extreme pre-term labour will be transferred, before they give birth, to maternity units in the hospitals that have neonatal intensive care units, allowing them to be cared for alongside their baby. It is recognised that that will not always be possible, and, in those cases, our specialist neonatal transport and retrieval service—ScotSTAR—will transfer those babies in specialist ambulances that are equipped to care for neonates. That has been established practice for many years. Babies receiving intensive care will then be transferred back to their local neonatal unit for on-going care as soon as possible.
The parents and carers of those babies must be supported to provide care alongside the neonatal staff. The new model of care positions parents firmly as partners in their babies’ care. It includes expansion of transitional care; improved facilities and support for parents; and expanded neonatal community care, allowing babies to get home sooner. In addition, we have already introduced the young patients family fund—formerly the neonatal expenses fund—which continues to support many parents with the costs of having babies in neonatal care.
We will now work with all health boards affected to plan for and implement the service change over the course of the next year. However, it is also important that we hear the voices of families in the affected areas. Therefore, we will also be consulting with families, so that we can take account of their concerns when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed, and we will set up focus groups to support that.