Light panels emulate night and day at the Royal Oldham

The Ashton family, ward staff and the Wardray team enjoy a brighter environment in the neonatal transition room.

An area of Royal Oldham Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit that was previously nicknamed ‘the cave’ has been given a facelift after fundraising by grateful parents.  Gill and Matthew Ashton raised the money following the care that nursing staff gave their son Elijah when he was born 15 weeks weighing 822 grams.

Ward matron Lynn Bowe explained that the six cot room is used during the transition from NICU, where parents  prepare to take their babies home, but although it was recently built and provided excellent care facilities it was not an inspiring or positive environment.  Now, Relax and View wall and ceiling panels from Wardray Premise Limited have been installed.  She said: “The panels make such a positive difference to working in the room now.”

Bowe added that, although premature babies don’t open their eyes for a while, they need to get used to the rhythm of day and night.  Wardray’s panels were fitted with dimmer switches so they can be used to help simulate this pattern more naturally than the old overhead lighting.

See the full report on page 28 of the November 2016 issue of RAD Magazine.