interesting...thoughts on nicu

[furbaby]

Okay so whilst speaking to a different dr at my surgery (the senior partner- so i have to pressume he is all knowledgeable and he's a lovely dr) I asked him the question about the 24 week being the point medical practitioners consider the pregnancy/ baby viable and he said that that is the medical stance, however in Plymouth because our hospital has an exceptional nicu department that in Plymouth it is really at 23 weeks that it is safe to assume a baby born will have a good chance of survival. I spoke to my mum who worked as a nicu nurse for a while there and she said it has happened where a baby at 22 weeks has survived.

The thing is from what I gather and the impression I have been given it all depends on the hospital in which you give birth and what there nicu department is like- call me niave but i pressumed all nicu's would be the same and no matter where in the uk a baby was born it would have th same chance because they are all NHS hospitals- but apparently not so?

Any thoughts?

xxxxx

 

[furbaby]

ps that said i hope spud sticks it out till at least when we're in the 30 week mark!

 

[BabyBrain]

Every primary care trust will have differing guidelines and a differing budget hun. Our maternity unit is state of the art too whereas you could go somewhere else and it isn't. I think basically each trust is run almost as a separate business which is why some fail and some are so good.

There's a lot of luck attached to the survival of prem babies. Science still has a long long way to go to match the conditions of the womb and we all hope and pray our babies stay put for as long as they are meant to.

But they really do perform miracles nowadays xxxxxxxxx

 

[furbaby]

I think it just shocked me that even though we all live in the same country your babies life could essentially be in the hands of fate all depending on where you live and the facilities available etc I honestly and niavely thought all babies born in the uk had access to the exact same care and chance of survival

Like you I am really lucky our hospital is pretty state of the art (maybe partly to do with it being a teaching hospital as we have the penisula medical school in plymouth) but either way I hope baby stays put till term

 

[angie84]

not sure what our hospital policys are, but mine is also a teaching hospital and has a new maternity unit.
but i do think its wrong, every child should be given a chance no matter how early they are.

 

[beckyboo1]

I think they're all given a chance - one of my best friends is a paediatric registrar and works in a NICU - all babies are given a chance, its just that some arent destined to stay with us.

Every doctor in every unit will try their hardest and i don't think sometimes, no matter how much money you can throw spend/have the baby will survive. I guess thats just life xx

 

[BabyBrain]

I think they're all given a chance - one of my best friends is a paediatric registrar and works in a NICU - all babies are given a chance, its just that some arent destined to stay with us.

Every doctor in every unit will try their hardest and i don't think sometimes, no matter how much money you can throw spend/have the baby will survive. I guess thats just life xx

You hear of so many prem babies being moved hundreds of miles away to the best hospitals. I suppose if they kitted out every hospital with everything the nhs would be in an even worse state than it is already