Newborn Services

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NICU and Special Care Nursery

Newborn Services – Monash Medical Centre, Clayton

Newborn Services (NBS) Clayton is a combined neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and special care nursery (SCN). We are one of four NICUs in Victoria. NBS has a total of 50 beds, of which 16 are neonatal intensive care cots and there is the capacity to increase to 18 during periods of peak demand. There are 34 SCN cots.  NBS is a busy, highly technical unit, with lots of activity, staff, families and visitors.  NBS provides treatment and care to sick and/or premature infants with medical and surgical problems. Approximately 1000 newborn infants are admitted to NBS each year, with around 300 requiring neonatal intensive care. Although the majority of admissions are infants born at Monash Medical Centre-Clayton, NBS also admits newborn infants from within the state via the Newborn Emergency Transport Service (NETS).

NBS enjoys the many benefits of being co-located with the tertiary paediatric services at Monash Medical Centre-Clayton, which include cardiology, respiratory medicine, neurology, renal medicine, gastroenterology, endocrinology, haematology and genetics. The paediatric surgical services include general surgery, urology, ENT, orthopaedics and neurosurgery. With the support of this broad range of paediatric sub specialists almost all neonatal medical and surgical problems can be managed ‘in-house’ at NBS with the exception only of open-heart surgery, ECMO and major metabolic disorders.

NBS is able to provide continuing nursing support following discharge through its ‘Hospital in the Home (HITH)’ and ‘Post-Acute Care (PAC)’ programs. The HITH program provides daily nursing review in the family’s home by members of a dedicated paediatric/neonatal nursing team.

In Victoria, neonatal care is classified into three levels according to facilities offered, with each level having admission criteria based on age, weight, general health and feeding methods. Victoria has four Level III units, commonly referred to as Neonatal Intensive Care Units, which care for infants not only from across the state, but also Tasmania and the border regions of South Australia and New South Wales. These units provide sick and premature newborns with specialised treatments, including assisted ventilation. Some also offer surgery to the infant with complex needs.

Victoria has many local and regional hospitals with Level II Special Care Nursery facilities. Generally, premature infants born after 32 weeks are cared for in Level II units. Level II units provide infants with IV fluids and medications, oxygen therapy, and monitoring of heart rate and breathing. Infants are also admitted for continuing care following a neonatal intensive care stay.  Level I units provide care for healthy babies requiring short term observation following delivery.  Having a premature infant in NBS places an enormous amount of stress on families. To ease the pressure on families and to make beds available for other infants in need, we transfer medically stable infants to a hospital closer to home as soon as possible.

Special Care Nursery:   Dandenong Hospital

The Special Care Nursery is a High Dependency level 2 unit. The Nursery cares for approximately 800 babies each year from Southern Health and other hospitals within Victoria.

The Nursery has specialised equipment to care for sick and premature babies and has other facilities such as a large parent's room for feeding and bathing and rooms for overnight stays if required.

The Nursery aims to provide high quality, holistic, family-centred care to babies and families during admission.

Discharge support is provided for babies by either the Extended Post-Natal Care team or CareLink services, where a qualified nurse or midwife will visit the family at home following discharge.