The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Bath’s Royal United Hospital is at the forefront of the hospital’s independent charity, The Forever Friends Appeal’s fundraising efforts. Looking after babies and their families from across a wide area encompassing Chippenham, Malmesbury, Warminster and Glastonbury, the busy unit has outgrown the facilities considered state-of-the-art when it was built 30 years ago.

The current NICU has an excellent clinical team and its performance ranks in the top 10 per cent of NICUs across the UK.

However, the unit’s cramped conditions and the lack of facilities for involving parents in the care and development of their babies, give an idea of the problems facing all those who use it.

With this in mind, The Forever Friends Appeal has been working on the appropriately named NICU ‘Space to Grow’ campaign, to raise the funds needed to build a new, pioneering and environmentally sustainable neonatal intensive care unit at the RU H.

The project, costing £6.1million, will provide much needed ‘space to grow’ and will offer a holistic and therapeutic approach to the care of tiny babies, while creating a new, low carbon unit for the future.

To date, £4.7million has been generated through the appeal’s fundraising efforts and the Royal United Hospital.

Now, the appeal is busy fundraising the last £1.3million needed to complete the new NICU and have it ready for their tiniest babies by early 2011.

By having input from a team of architects, clinicians and the RU H management, internationally renowned architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley have designed a unit that brings sustainability to the fore and will serve as a template for the future of green healthcare buildings throughout the NHS.

In taking an holistic approach to Neonatal care each and every element of the new build must be considered carefully. Keeping the new build separate from the existing NICU will allow the development to be completed with minimum disruption to it’s round-theclock care.

From the outset, the new NICU will be clear and logical, clearly zoned for the different functions each area is to accommodate, with clear divisions for infection control and access.

The new facilities will house a direct and efficient route connecting the current Princess Anne Wing delivery suite with NICU.

The care rooms will be grouped around a central staff base and be home to 21 cots. The additional space in these rooms will help staff to provide effective care and services to each patient while also providing comfort and privacy to visiting families.

The clockwise circuit of rooms forms a diagram of intensity of care, beginning with intensive care, then on to high dependency, then special care, and finally on to the parents’ rooms, then home.

These examination and treatment spaces will be carefully lit allowing parents and staff to perceive changing external conditions through day and night – the colour schemes will also reflect this.

Lastly, parents rooms and staff space will be much improved. Four parents suites will be provided, one equipped to allow for treatment – these rooms are grouped around a communal living area and kitchen which opens to a courtyard area, allowing parents to either be alone or to mix and share similar experiences.

The staff space will allow open plan working, with additional quiet rooms should staff need space for a private conversation, phone call or space to work.

In order to make this pioneering new NICU a reality, the appeal is exploring a wide variety of fundraising methods, including the corporate and community partnerships, major gifts and a very busy events calendar.

In addition to this, the appeal has found new fundraising initiatives to enable people to contribute to the unit, the main focus being their Buy a Baby Brick Scheme.

More than 500 babies use the current unit each year and this initiative has enabled friends, family and colleagues to make a contribution to the campaign.

The appeal has been encouraging individuals, businesses and community groups to sign up and buy a ‘Baby’ Brick for £10, a row for £100 or even a ‘Baby’ Brick wall for £1,000 to receive a certificate, together with their name permanently acknowledged within the new unit.

Since its launch in July 2009, the Buy a ‘Baby’ Brick scheme has raised nearly £40,000 and continues to appeal to supporters across the RU H catchment area and further afield.

The scheme has also attracted the attention of a number of celebrities, including Susan Hampshire, Felicity Kendall, Jason Durr and Patrick Stewart, who have visited the current NICU in order to get a better understanding of the work the unit and staff do – and to offer their support.

One of the major events that appears in the appeal’s events calendar is their annual fundraising day - Ted’s Big Day Out!

Traditionally, the third Friday in October sees individuals and organisations across the area pay a £1 to take their teddy out for the day and raise funds for the hospital.

The last two fundraising days were both in aid of NICU and thanks to the Buy a ‘Baby’ Brick scheme, Ted’s Big Day Out 2009 attracted Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage.

Mr Cage, his wife Kim and four year old Kal-el were welcomed by the appeal team to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the fundraising day.

Cage joined in with the spirit of the day by bringing his own teddy along, signing autographs and giving a speech on the inspirational job staff in the current unit do, despite the facilities afforded to them.

He said: “Parents need to be able to spend time with their children and at the moment, conditions are too cramped for them to be able to do this comfortably.

This magical bonding time between a parent and child is so important and the new NICU will enable this to happen”.

With the ground works already under way, the appeal is continuing to recruit as many people as possible to help make this innovative new unit a reality and have it open by summer 2011.

For more details, or to find out how you can make a difference visit www.foreverfriendsappeal.

co.uk.