The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team at The Royal Oldham Hospital are celebrating after being awarded prestigious Family Integrated Care (FiCare) accreditation.
The NICU team were awarded the highest green standard award by a panel of representatives from the North West Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (MWMODN) and they are also the first Level 3 NICU unit in the North West to receive the award.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at The Royal Oldham Hospital have been embedding the practice of Family Integrated Care (FiCare) for several years. Family integrated care is a model that supports and educates parents and carers to become integral participants in their baby’s care from the time of admission to the neonatal unit in partnership with the neonatal team. This can involve aspects of care such as parents being present and participating in ward rounds, tube feeding their baby and participating in development care amongst other things.
The NICU team were visited earlier this month by a panel of representatives from the North West Neonatal Operational Delivery Network, neonatal staff from other hospitals and parents who have had premature or sick babies in other neonatal units. The panel spent the day interviewing staff, observing the ward environment and examining evidence on how the NICU team have embedded FiCare, before giving the NICU team the fantastic news that they’d been awarded the accreditation.