Somerset Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (SNICU)
Sister Sue Fulker Tel: 01823 342517
SNICU Ward Tel: 01823 342575
Somerset Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (SNICU) is our specialised ward for premature and sick new born babies. Wherever you live in Somerset, if you have a sick or preterm baby they will be cared for here by our team of experienced nurses and doctors.
SNICU is located in our maternity building in Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. The unit is divided into two areas – one for intensive care and one for special care. There are 18 cots in total.
If your baby needs any of these treatments below they can be cared for by SNICU:
- Continuous monitoring of their breathing or heart rate
- Additional oxygen
- Tube feeding (where milk is fed via a small flexible tube down your baby’s nose and into the food pipe to your baby’s stomach)
- Phototherapy (where a special type of light treats a baby’s jaundice)
- Recovery and convalescence from other such as surgery
- Short term intensive care
- Apnoeic attacks where a baby stops breathing for a short time
- Intravenous nutrition (where nutrition, vitamins or minerals are given via a baby’s vein)
- Ventilation (where a baby is helped to breathe).
Our team
In SNICU, your baby will be cared for mostly by our nurses, but you will also be supported by our nurse practitioners.
The nurse in charge of the neonatal unit is the ward manager. The consultant is the senior doctor in charge of your baby’s medical care and they will be supported by team of junior doctors. Sometimes other specialist doctors, such as a surgeon, will also be involved in your baby’s treatment.
Depending on your baby’s individual needs, other professionals may also help with their care, including physiotherapists, radiographers, pharmacists and dieticians.