New care plan launched to improve outcomes in preterm babies at UHNM

New parents are set to receive a care ‘passport’ as part of a new care plan aimed at improving outcomes of premature babies at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM). 

The PERIPrem (Perinatal Excellence in Reducing Injury in Premature birth) care bundle is made up of 11 interventions that will give preterm babies the best chance of survival whilst on the Royal Stoke University Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). 

The passport is designed to help inform parents and outline each PERIPrem element their baby should receive and will have this alongside the clinical teams throughout the entirety of their care. 

The combined elements give babies the best chance of survival and have been shown to have a significant impact on the rates of brain injury and mortality rates in babies born prematurely and ensures the standardisation of the best practice in preterm care.

As part of the quality improvement programme at UHNM the first PERIPrem nurse role has been adopted, forging a new way of working, where clinicians from obstetrics, midwifery and neonatal join together to drive forward and revolutionise care for pre-term babies.

Laura Farnell, the first PERIPRem lead NICU Nurse at UHNM, said: “Myself and the whole team are really excited about PERIPrem and the positive changes it will bring for our patients and their families. The role I have adopted of PERIPRem lead NICU nurse allows me to have an interest in quality improvement alongside improving outcomes for premature babies. 

“Not only is does PERIPrem passport support families throughout every step of their babies care, but the team are also able to understand which elements may need developing and present these results to the wider team to continue the development of patient care.”

Danielle Bromfield, Preterm birth maternity assistant at UHNM, said: “Part of my role is to ensure families who have preterm babies get the best care and support possible and PERIPrem is a great resource we are now using to ensure we achieve this. It’s great that we can all work together to ensure preterm babies at UHNM get the best and most appropriate care, at the right time and in the right place ensuring their baby has the best possible outcome.”