Safe transport for precious passengers
Together, we’re helping neonatal Lead Nurse Alex and her amazing team provide the very best care to their tiniest and most vulnerable patients, even while on the move.
Thanks to donations and the incredible fundraising efforts of our Evelina London family, we have been able to buy three transport incubators, which include pioneering new monitors, to help move fragile babies around the hospital.
“The incubators, including the monitors, are crucial for our service and crucial for the babies. We’re very lucky that our supporters have been so generous.”
Some premature babies could weigh just 450 grams – that’s less than a bag of sugar. ‘It’s not safe to transport a baby that small or sick without monitoring them – even small changes could have huge consequences,” says Alex Phillips, Lead Nurse for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“When they’re very tiny, babies cannot regulate their own body heat or breathe by themselves,” adds Alex. “The incubators can do that for them, while the monitors help us keep a close eye on the baby’s breathing, temperature, oxygen and blood pressure levels, so we can step in if need be.”
There are now two of these vital incubators in the NICU and one on the maternity unit, where extra support can be offered for babies.
With your support, we can help them to continue making leaps forward for those who need them most.
“Evelina London is different to other children’s hospitals because we are located on the same site as a leading maternity unit. This means mother and baby can be cared for on the same site throughout pregnancy, birth and beyond,” explains Alex. “This means we can diagnose heart problems in unborn babies, then transport them very quickly across the hospital for an operation as soon as they’re delivered.”
The clever new monitors can even be switched between the NICU, the high-dependency unit and the special care baby unit, so these precious passengers receive constant care.
Alex hopes the incubators will also mean more babies can receive the expert care her dedicated team provides. She says, “We care for almost 1000 babies every year, but we only have 20 intensive care cots. However when the babies get better, we can move them safely to other units – or to hospitals nearer their families – using the transport incubators.
Alex says, “Babies are very resilient but they’re also extremely vulnerable. Without the monitors, we wouldn’t have a complete transport service.”
“This means we’ll have more cots available for babies with heart problems or those who arrive needing specialist care.”
We’re here to help Evelina London look to the future, to offer ground-breaking care today and tomorrow. The incubators and their monitors are compatible with the latest technology, helping Alex and her phenomenal team provide the best possible care for the tiniest babies for a long time to come.
