On Thursday 17th November, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust marked World Prematurity Day, a day which aims to raise global awareness of premature birth and highlight the impact that it can have on families. In the UK, one in every 13 babies is born prematurely.
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To mark World Prematurity Day, we celebrated babies being cared for in NICU, who received a handmade purple cape and a certificate to celebrate. Multiple fundraising events also took place including a bake sale and raffle run by Little Roo Neonatal Fund, which raised an amazing £875.01; two members of staff from the Paediatrics team even dyed their hair purple for World Prematurity Day, and raised over £275! Little Roo Neonatal Fund is the charity for the NICU at the Trust and is part of the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Charity. They help raise money to fund additional state of the art equipment; staff skills and experience; developmental care aids for babies; and provisions for family centred care to provide holistic care for the babies cared for by our neonatal service. One of the babies who was being cared for in NICU on World Prematurity Day was 26-day old Hunter, who was born at 25 weeks and five days - pictured below with his mum Charlie and dad Ryan. Hunter is one of the many babies who is transferred to the NICU at St Peter’s from another Trust to receive specialist care given by our team. |
Charlie and Ryan with baby Hunter |
At St Peter’s Hospital, we have the only Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Surrey and our dedicated and specialist team have the skills and experience to provide the highest level of intensive care for the smallest and sickest newborn babies.
As a Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, we care for babies from across Kent, Surrey and Sussex and from further afield who are born as early as 22 weeks. Last year, 726 babies and their families were cared for by the unit.
Fundraising activities for World Prematurity Day
Pictured top: Members of the team in neonatal intensive care unit celebrate World Prematurity Day 2022
