The support we provide

Care Packs

We supply around 5,000 care packs across every unit with one for to each whānau who has a baby admitted to a unit. These packs are made up of practical yet thoughtful items which will be of use during the whānau journey.  There are many items we’d love to add (lipsalve, powerbank, antibacterial wipes or hand gel, water bottle and sanitary items for Mum), so if you would like to donate to help us with these packs you can do so here.

Unique Community Playgroups

Parents who have had a NICU or SCBU experience often need support once they return home, as returning home with a baby that was premature or sick can have demands over and above a full term healthy newborn. Plus they’ve gone from a busy hospital ward environment to being at home on their own.

 Also parents may not have ever had the opportunity to join an antenatal group. We offer regular playgroups where parents can meet up after they have left the NICU and their babies can have a play. They are unique as they are facilitated either by an Occupational Therapist or a Physiotherapist who is there to talk about baby’s development milestones and give advice to the families.  More information on venues and dates available here.

Celebrating Baby’s Milestones

We’re all about celebrating how well a baby is doing during their time in a unit, so each family will get a set of specially designed neonatal milestone cards to help them keep a visual diary of these important days like when a baby hits the 1kilo mark or goes tube free!  Plus we have a special ‘100 Day’ certificate and bunting for those little ones who reach up to 100 days in hospital.  And as each family gets to take their baby home we supply each unit with graduation certificates to give to complete and present to each family on discharge and there’s a special selfie frame to capture the that magical moment. 

Supporting the NICUs and SCBUs

We support the NICU and SCBU teams directly in a number of ways, for example, a good number of the chairs used for those all important kangaroo cuddles by Mum or Dad has often been supplied by us; vital training equipment such as the ‘Baby Sim’ simulation doll used for enhancing staff training; the privacy screens available to be able to close off a family’s own part of a busy ward room; breastpumps available for use on the ward by Mum to express breastmilk for her baby; and we’ve helped with many refurbishments of parent rooms, kitchens and lounges.

We’re very social too!

This website has a wealth of information for parents to help them navigate the time that their baby is in a unit and after they’ve been discharged home with their little one.  All of this information can be found here.

And as the neonatal world has a whole language of its own we’ve put together a Glossary to help understand these clinical terms as well as a Conversion Scale . If you do hear a term that the medical team uses that you don’t understand, always ask for an explanation as they’ll be more than happy to help.

We send out a regular newsletter to keep our dedicated supporters up to date with news from the Trust as well anything new and interesting in the neonatal world. Connect With Us today. 

Family stories are always extremely popular with new and current families to read and have information relative to their journey and to know they’re not alone in this experience. Do head to this part of our website to read through these amazing and inspiring journeys.

Added to this we have active social media accounts that have a proactive group of followers from across the globe.  So do find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn!