Consultants
The consultants are the most senior members of the Neonatal medical team, who are highly specialised in Neonatal medicine, with broad past experience in general paediatrics and individual areas of expertise. They each rotate for a week at a time. In addition there are other consultants for community and paediatric wards.
The consultant has overall responsibility in the care and management of each baby admitted to Neonatal Unit and they provide support to parents as required through full discussion of more complicated issues relating to the health needs of the child.
The consultants review the health and development of babies following discharge from Neonatal Unit according to their individual needs ensuring there is appropriate support and advice for the families of babies admitted to Neonatal Unit, both during admission and following discharge.
Dr David Lacey and Dr Lil Breen follow up babies who are on oxygen and lead ward rounds on the Neonatal Unit. Dr Russell Austen and Dr Todd care for babies on the post natal wards, in paediatric wards, on the community.
Each consultant has a team of registrars and senior house officers working for them.
Registrars
The Registrars who have at least two years experience of paediatric and Neonatal medicine give 24 hour on-call presence to supervise ongoing care of all babies on Neonatal Unit. They offer ongoing support, training and education to Senior House Officers. The registrars communicate with parents about individual issues concerning the health of their baby as it develops. They perform and supervise complicated procedures and investigations.
Senior House Officers (SHOs)
SHOs are qualified junior doctors from a range of specialities including paediatrics, obstetrics and surgery. They hold a daily review of all babies admitted to the Neonatal Unit including physical examinations, review of results and tests in discussion with nursing staff. They will attend complicated deliveries on the Labour Ward where risks to the health of the newborn may occur.
24 hour support for review of all babies on the Neonatal Unit where new problems or concerns have been identified by parents and Nursing Staff. The SHOs with the nursing staff ensure that GPs and Community Teams are informed of all problems and health issues relating to babies by letter or fax, and that all referrals to specialist consultants such as Cardiology and Orthopaedics are made as required.