Visiting the neonatal unit

Parents are encouraged to be with their baby as much as possible. Friends and family are keen to meet the new baby and offer what help they can whilst he is in hospital. However staff have a duty to protect both baby and parent; in terms of visiting this means limiting the number of visitors and therefore the potential for exposure to infection such as coughs or colds. It also means keeping the nurseries free from visitors around the change of nursing shifts so that information relating to a baby is kept confidential.

Soon after a baby is admitted the parents will receive a written copy of the visiting guidelines and will be issued with 4 visitors passes. This allows a baby to have 4 different visitors per day in addition to his parents. With a pass, relatives and friends can visit a baby in the absence of a parent. For security reasons - lost passes will not be replaced so please take care of them.