Taking over the care of your baby
When we arrive we will listen to your baby's doctors and nurses tell us what has been happening with your baby.
If you aren't with your baby; one of our team, or your baby's local team, will come and update you about what is going on.
Some babies can be moved over to our transport incubator quite quickly.
If your baby is very little or very unwell we may have to spend some time making sure your baby is stable before we move them over.
How we move your baby
We will transfer your baby in one of our specially designed transport incubators.
These are mobile intensive care units which have all the equipment your baby may need.
If you have a larger baby who is not requiring intensive care they may be moved in our pod, which is more comfortable for bigger babies.
Whichever way we move your baby we make sure they are nice and secure using soft straps which mean they should be comfortable on the journey.
The ambulance
We will use one of our custom fitted ambulances to transport your baby.
Most of the time we will use our yellow "box ambulance", which is the same design as the ambulances used by the emergency services, with special NEST adaptations.
Getting your baby into our ambulance
We use either a lift or a ramp with a winch to move your baby onto our ambulance.
This is very safe, although it can be a little bit bumpy.
Because your baby has soft straps keeping them secure they won't go anywhere during the move.
Our transport incubator is then attached to the floor using a special clamp which is welded to the vehicle.
In the back of the ambulance
We have all the equipment we need to look after your baby in our bags or in the back of our ambulance.
We also have lots of spare cylinders of air and oxygen for your baby.
It can be a little noisy in the back of the ambulance. Our drivers are very good at making sure the ride is smooth and there is the minimum of hard braking / accelerating to make sure your baby is nice and happy during the move.
In a routine transfer we will often go along with normal traffic as this is often the safest way to travel and creates the least amount of noise and movement.
In certain circumstances; if your baby is poorly or likely to become more unwell if we are delayed, then we may use the blue lights and sirens on our ambulance. All our drivers are trained to drive under emergency conditions, so we can do this if a baby becomes unwell in the journey.
At the end of the journey
When we arrive at the receiving unit we will tell the doctors and nurses all about your baby.
At this point there will usually be lots of staff and equipment in the room and you will be asked to wait outside the room while we transfer your baby to their new care space.
Once your baby is in their new incubator we will turn off all our equipment and go onto the next job.
We will leave a feedback form for you with the unit which you can send directly back to us if you have any comments or concerns.