News

Improvements to Kettering General Hospital’s (KGH) neonatal unit have enabled it to start caring for some of the area’s most premature babies once again.

In September 2023 KGH moved from being a level 2 Local Neonatal Unit to a level 1.

This meant it could only care for babies born after 32 weeks of gestation rather than over 27 weeks’ gestation.

From Monday May 26, 2025 the unit has been fully approved by NHS England the NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board and East Midlands Neonatal Operational Delivery Network to return to level 2 status caring for babies with more than 27 weeks of gestation (28 weeks if multiple birth) that weigh more than 800grams.

Extremely premature babies born before this, or who are very sick, have always gone to specialist regional level 3 neonatal intensive care units.

The precautionary change of designation from level 2 to level 1 was a joint decision the hospital made alongside NHS England (Midlands) and NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board in September 2023.

It was taken following on-going assessment and routine clinical quality and safety reviews, as well as feedback received from staff, which demonstrated a need for additional consultant capacity and staff training in the care of babies born between 27-32 weeks.

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Chief Nurse Julie Hogg said: “We are delighted to announce that Kettering General Hospital’s (KGH) Neonatal Unit has now been fully redesignated as Level 2 Local Neonatal Unit.

“That means, once again, we are able to deliver intensive care, high dependency care, and special care, to babies born after 27 weeks of gestation or 28 weeks if a multiple birth.

“The agreed change of designation in 2023 enabled us to take some time to strengthen our medical and nursing staffing levels and deliver appropriate specialist training.

“It has also enabled us to strengthen our leadership, governance, and monitoring arrangements to ensure we deliver care to the highest standards. 

“We are committed to ensuring our neonatal unit delivers the best possible care to babies and families in our local community and ensuring that care is tailored to their needs.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank our teams for all of the dedicated work and effort that has gone into achieving the improvements that have enabled us to start delivering level 2 care once again.”

Some of the actions taken since September 2023 have included:

• Increased medical and nursing recruitment including two Neonatal Consultants, a Data Analyst, a Governance Lead Nurse, and seven nurses. 
• Increased training and education for the nursing and medical teams, including multi-disciplinary team simulations - a training method where healthcare professionals from different disciplines practice working together in a simulated scenarios to improve team performance, communication, and patient safety.
• Other areas covered by the additional training have included difficult airway management, effective resuscitation, medicine administration, and chest drain insertions.
• Strengthened neonatal leadership including a Neonatal Lead consultant and Neonatal Matron, leaders being more visible to the team, and encouraging openness and co-operation
• Improved links with the East Midlands Neonatal Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) – a regional body which ensures that all babies and their families receive high-quality care that is fair and accessible for all.
• Compliance with British Association of Perinatal Medicine standards of achieving more than 70% of the nursing workforce Qualified in their speciality - which means they can care for intensive care, high dependency and special care babies.