THE new neonatal unit at Barnsley Hospital may now be open, but the Tiny Hearts Appeal is far from over.
Money is needed to buy vital equipment to help care for some of the most poorly children born at 27 weeks and above.
The neonatal team needs many key pieces of equipment which will make a huge difference to babies and their parents.
But they come with high price tags.
The Tiny Hearts Appeal’s total fund-raising currently stands at £687,712 but will continue to its target of £1m and beyond.
One piece of equipment the money will pay for is an intensive incubator, costing £32,000 each.
These are the most high-tech incubators. They have cooling facilities to protect a baby’s brain after a traumatic birth, in some cases to prepare them to be transported to a specialist unit.
Another three special care incubators are needed for babies who need special care rather than intensive care. They cost £28,000 each.
In addition, the team needs five phototherapy light units which are £2,500 each and are used for the treatment of neonatal jaundice. The new, higher specification lights system pauses and restarts when baby needs certain procedures. It also records phototherapy a baby has received enabling the team to see at a glance the effectiveness of treatment and plan the next stage. The selected model is designed to sit on top of the incubators and eliminates the need for stands, minimising barriers for parents to their babies.
Other equipment needed are six neo-puffs which is a form of resuscitation equipment, at a cost of £2,331 each, cot warmers at £1,820 each, ten height-adjustable cots at £800 each and ten thermometers at £144 each.
Chairman Steve Wragg has expressed his gratitude to Barnsley people who put their spare change into the Tiny Hearts incubator, a giant ‘money-box’ located in hospital reception.
He said: “It’s the people of Barnsley who own the new unit because they contributed in their thousands.
“Our incubator money-box has taken £75,000 from people just walking past putting their spare change in. We cannot say thank you enough.”
