KSS Neonatal Transfer Service
The Kent, Surrey, and Sussex Neonatal Transfer Service (KSS NTS) is a specialist neonatal transport service that transports babies across Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and London and beyond. We are 3 teams that work together to provide a 24-hour service, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Our base sites are at Medway Maritime, in Gillingham, the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and here at St Peters Hospital in Chertsey.
Each team has a doctor, senior nurse, and ambulance crew.
We specialize in providing emergency neonatal care during transport for those babies who are born too early or who are acutely sick needing specialist surgical or cardiac centres. We also repatriate babies back to their local hospitals when they are recovered or getting better, so they can be closer to home.
We have our own neonatal transport ambulance, which enables us to move babies more efficiently and safely, and our transport incubators are specially designed and fully equipped so that we can provide intensive care during the journey if this is required. All babies are fully monitored throughout their journey, and wear Velcro seatbelts so they are secure.
For safety reasons we are only able to transfer one baby at a time, so twins will be moved separately.
Parents and transfers
We appreciate that moving to a different hospital can be stressful, and we will keep you fully informed of what will happen and explain what we are doing every step of the way. We welcome questions and encourage parents to take photographs on the day their baby is transferred as it is another chapter in their neonatal journey. If you’re present, we will ensure that you see your baby before we leave the referring hospital, and we will contact you by phone when we arrive at the receiving Neonatal Unit.
It is possible to take one parent in the ambulance, sitting in the front with the ambulance driver. For understandable safety reasons we cannot take mothers who are less than 24 hours post-delivery, or those who are still inpatients. The safe transfer of your baby is our main concern and so the decision to allow a parent to accompany is made on an individual patient basis. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to a member of the transport team and we will try to help.
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Thames Valley & Wessex Neonatal Network Created by parents for when your neonatal baby is ready to move to a hospital closer to your home. |
Information Leaflet
