Parents and carers of children requiring intensive care at The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network will soon be supported at their child’s bedside in newly designed single patient bedrooms – setting a new standard for family centred care.
Championed by staff and families, the intensive care units in the Paediatric Services Building (PSB) at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children's Hospital Stage 1 and Minderoo Children's Comprehensive Cancer Centre (SCH1/MCCCC) will include a parent/carer bed and more space for comfort..
Parents Nathan and Kristy, who have been at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead (CHW) with their one-month-old daughter, Sophia, in recent weeks, said the future parent facilities will be welcomed by families navigating difficult intensive care environments.
“Having privacy for your family is incredibly helpful in a highly stressful hospital situation where you’re just trying to absorb the information that you’re being given, but want to remain close to your child,” Kristy said.
“As a parent, having to leave the bedside is heartbreaking. You’re encouraged to step away and try and get some rest, but really you just want to be with your child, so if there's more space to enable parents to do so, then that’s incredible.”
Sophia was one week old when she was admitted to Tamworth Hospital in the family's hometown, before transferring to John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle. She was then transferred via the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS) to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at CHW to be placed on Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). The highly specialised machine takes over the role of the heart and lungs, pumping blood out of the body, giving it oxygen, then gently circulating it back. This gave Sophia's body the chance to rest and recover while her condition was treated.
The new parent and carer areas in the intensive care units are just one example of how families like Sophia’s will be supported in the new hospital buildings which are currently under construction, as we work towards our vision of transforming kids’ health.
The $619 million Stage 2 redevelopment project of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead includes a new 14-storey Paediatric Services Building (PSB) which will support patients who require acute or critical healthcare across multiple departments, a revitalised forecourt entry, a multi-storey car park and upgrades to the existing hospital.
The $658 million Sydney Children's Hospital Stage 1 and Minderoo Children's Comprehensive Cancer Centre (SCH1/MCCCC) redevelopment project will offer expanded paediatric services, including a larger Emergency Department, a new medical short-stay unit, a new Children’s Intensive Care Unit across two pods, a neurosciences centre and Australia's first combined cancer centre – the Minderoo Children's Comprehensive Cancer Centre.