Local neonatal unit at NGH gets top marks in national quality of care audit

The unit that looks after premature and sick babies at Northampton General Hospital has achieved some top marks in a national quality audit.

Gosset Ward - which supports more than 450 babies each year - has achieved nationally outstanding performances in two areas of care measured by the National Neonatal Audit Programme, published this month.

Firstly it has delivered Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening tests for 97.8% of babies who required it compared to a national average of 80%.

ROP screening is a specialist eye examination for premature babies to look for any signs of damage to the retina - which is more common in premature babies as the blood vessels in the retina are not fully developed. It helps pick up problems, which if not caught early, can lead to blindness.

The second outstanding measure was for a specialist developmental follow-up assessments for babies born at less than 30 weeks gestation when they reach two years of age.

The unit did this for 100% of its babies in the reporting period compared to a national average of 77.9%.

Paediatric Consultant Dr Subodh Gupta, who is also NGH’s Clinical Director for Child Health, said: “Achieving such high standards in these important areas of neonatal care is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the brilliant work and strong team culture we have cultivated in our unit.

“Our collective dedication, hard work, and unwavering commitment to providing the best care for our neonatal patients have truly paid off.

“This recognition reflects the high standards we strive to maintain daily and the exceptional collaboration and support we provide to one another. I am incredibly proud of our clinical and managements teams who have all worked together to achieve these high ratings.”

The ROP screening is delivered by a small team of NGH nurses who have received special training in delivering retinal scans using the hospital’s own scanner.

Matron for Child Health Michelle Hardwick said: “I am immensely proud of the ROP screening team for the work they deliver. We took the decision to have our own retinal scanner and to train our nurses in skills need to deliver the scans.

“Most Trusts have consultants who do the scans but this can cause delays because they may only have the time to deliver scans once a week.

“At NGH we can deliver scans at any time which mean we can meet the timescales to ensure essentially all of our scans are delivered in the best practice timescale.” 

Dr Gupta said that the hospital had also made special efforts to deliver the two-year follow-up assessments by putting on a special consultant clinic.

He said: “We were determined to do this important developmental test well and so we ensured we had a consultant specially trained to deliver it. This test at two years of age is very specialised and extensive and measures many different areas of a child’s development.

“It is done on top of routine follow-ups we have for premature babies every three months for the first year and every four months in the second year unless problems are found.

“Our efforts have ensured all eligible toddlers receive this very detailed assessment at the right time.”

The team was also very close to being positive outliers (strong performance) in Broncho pulmonary dysplasia data and admission temperature categories, reflecting excellent results in these areas. The team’s scores in the other areas tested was within the expected range.

Gosset ward has 14 special care, four high dependency, and two intensive care cots.

In August last year the Unit’s ROP Screening Service was also honoured with a Recognising Excellence in Neonatal Services (RENS) Award from the East Midlands Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (EMNODN).