A GLASGOW hospital has been hailed by UK premature care experts for reducing the number of babies who develop hypothermia - a major cause of death in pre-term births.
The life-threatening condition can also result in babies being admitted to neonatal intensive care resulting in invasive procedures, longer stays in hospital and separation from parents.
A specialist team at the Royal Hospital for Children introduced a number of simple, preventative measures including increasing the temperature of the labour ward, warming baby linen and installing new thermostats in all delivery rooms.
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The hospital also developed a knitting community, where parents, families and others supply the unit with knitted hats and cardigans to help keep babies warm.
Premature babies were also left for longer periods of time with mums while still connected to the umbilical cord to help stabilise temperatures before being admitted to intensive care units.
Over the past three years the number of infants admitted to intensive care units with hypothermia has fallen from 16 to 5.5 per month, a 66% reduction.
There was also an 80% reduction in the number of babies transferred for “rewarming” specialist treatment in intensive care units.
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The Get Set team at the RHC, led by Dr Anne Marie Heuchan, have been awarded the ‘Improving quality of perinatal care’ category at the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) awards in Newcastle.
Kevin Hill, NHSGGC’s Director of Women and Children said: “This is yet another example of how the hard-working and dedicated teams within the Children’s Hospital are constantly striving to improve outcome for our patients. I am very proud of their achievements – well done to the Get Set Team.”
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