Mother's concern at neonatal care

By Jo Perry
BBC Scotland news website

Linnea Randall said staff are under too much pressure

Mother-of-four Linnea Randall has first-hand experience of neonatal care having gone through four premature births.

She has seen the daily pressures faced by departments, which are highlighted in Thursday's Bliss report.

The study found that more nurses were urgently needed in Scotland's 15 specialist units to cope with the demands of sick and premature babies.

The findings also described a system which was being stretched to breaking point with some mothers and babies having to travel long distances in search of a unit with the right facilities.

Mrs Randall's first son Luke was born six years ago in Aberdeen, 10 weeks premature. Her second son Steven, aged four, was also born in the city, nine weeks premature.

Just over 16 months ago she gave birth to twins, Sophie and Megan in Edinburgh.

Their premature birth left her and husband David with a 30-mile daily journey to see them as they received treatment in the city's neonatal unit.

'Bent over backwards'

Now living in Bo'ness, Mrs Randall says she is extremely grateful for the care her and her children received while in hospital. Indeed, she says that they would not be here were it not for the efforts of NHS staff.

But the findings of the Bliss report come as no shock to her.

When I was in labour with Steven they kept waking me up every hour to tell me which hospital I was being transferred to because there wasn't enough neonatal beds available for when he was born Linnea Randall

She said: "At Aberdeen we were crammed in like sardines.

"When I was in labour with Steven they kept waking me up every hour to tell me which hospital I was being transferred to because there wasn't enough neonatal beds available for when he was born.

"With the twins, they were born in Edinburgh. At the time they weren't sure that I was in labour and said that if I left the hospital there may not be neonatal cots for the girls when they were born and that I could be sent anywhere.

"It could have been Glasgow or Manchester or Newcastle, which was a bit scary.

"Overall my experience of neo natal care has been positive. The staff have been great. But they are definitely pushed."

Under resourced

She added: "It's not very nice to be told that you could be going to elsewhere because they are so busy.

"We also had one occasion where Sophie wasn't fed because they were so busy. Sophie was only about two and a half pounds.

"She was a tiny baby, so to skip a feed was quite a lot.

"I'm very grateful for all that they did for us but on the whole you can tell that they're very busy.

"It's a stressful time and a scary time to become a mum, and have a baby in a box being fed with tubes.

"They bent over backwards to tell us what was going on and how to work with them but there was only so much they could do because they had so many other babies to look after."

Like the report, Mrs Randall says she would like to see more beds and more nurses on the units to give both the babies and also the parents the best chance.

She is also calling for more thought to be given to the journey that parents have to undertake to see their new borns.

She added: "There needs to be more accommodation for parents. It seems like it is an under-resourced area."

Following the publication of the Bliss report, the Scottish Government said it would conduct a review of services.