Neonatology

West London Children's Healthcare

Locations

Contact

Outpatients appointments: 020 3313 4727

Visitor Information

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About

We provide care for extremely pre-term babies (less than 27 weeks’ gestation) and more mature babies at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital.

We also treat newborn babies with complex medical needs, including cardiac and neurological problems, as well as newborn babies with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and retinopathy of prematurity.

We treat extremely pre-term babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital. More mature babies born above 27 weeks’ gestation are cared for at St Mary’s Hospital in our local neonatal unit. Both neonatal units provide cooling therapy for term babies with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.

Each year more than 850 babies are admitted to our two neonatal units, making us one of the largest neonatal services in the UK. Our areas of expertise include:

Management of extremely pre-term infants
Respiratory care and early extubation
Neonatal MRI scanner on the neonatal unit
Human milk bank based at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital

We have close links with the fetal medicine unit, clinical genetics and the children’s ambulatory unit at Hammersmith Hospital. Our two neonatal units contribute to the National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) and are members of the Vermont-Oxford Network (VON), which helps us benchmark outcomes nationally and internationally.

Some of our most common treatments for extremely pre-term and newborn babies include:

All types of ventilation
Hypothermia treatment (cooling therapy)
Nitric oxide
Laser treatment for retinopathy of prematurity

Additional information

Clinical trials and research

We are involved in innovative research with Imperial College London focusing on brain development, neuroprotection, microbiota, neonatal cardiology and haematology. Parents may be offered the opportunity to participate. See more in our research section.

Education and elective placements

We run post-graduate educational programmes and host the Resuscitation Council UK’s Newborn Life Support (NLS) course six times a year. We also offer elective placements to aspiring and overseas medical students.

Further online resources

Clinics

Our neonatology service is managed by a multidisciplinary team of 11 consultants, nurses, and therapists. The service includes neonatal neurologists, perinatal cardiologists, psychologists, therapists and a discharge and liaison team.

Meet the team

Consultants

Dr Sunit Godambe (head of specialty),
Dr Nigel Basheer (consultant neonatal neurologist)

Other specialists

Margot Bril (matron), Rosie Hurlston (clinical psychologist), Annie Aloysius (speech and language therapist), Abimbola Sanu (neonatal pharmacist), and others.

Patient information

Before your appointment

Please bring all current medications. If you have active TB in the family, contact our TB clinical nurse in advance.

During your appointment

All children will be weighed and measured. Our paediatric outpatients team will support you through the visit.

Information for parents and visitors

We provide a welcome pack including hand-washing and visiting guidelines. Parents have unrestricted access; our winter visiting policy may apply.

Unit contact details

Queen Charlotte’s:
Main: 020 3313 5158 | ICU: 020 3313 3174 | SCU: 020 3313 3908
St Mary’s:
Main: 020 3312 1103 | ICU: 020 3312 6294 | SCU: 020 3312 5059
Follow-up clinic queries: 020 3313 5369

Patient information leaflets

Patient information from other sources

Referrals

GP referrals:
To refer to the neonatology service or request advice, call our single point of contact on 020 3313 3622.

This number connects to the neonatal bleep-holder who will triage in-utero and postnatal referrals and route them appropriately within the Trust.

Rapid decision-making on acceptance
Direct referrals to the appropriate team