St George's Neonatal Unit (NNU) has received more than £60,000 to set up simulation equipment and training for its staff.  

The donation will fund a live simulation set up with 'dummy' NNU equipment and patient, and pay for a specialist nurse to train doctors, nurses and other staff in caring for premature and sick babies, and managing life-threatening situations.

The grant has come from a charitable trust based in America, the RBaby Foundation, given to the NNU via First Touch (formerly the Friends of St George's NNU). 

Justin Richards, the Neonatal Consultant and project lead, explains that the equipment will enable staff to learn routine tasks safely, but also to practice identifying and responding to emergencies.  "Simulation allows us to train staff on cases which may not happen often in clinical practice.  We will use the equipment for one-to-one training but also for training teams as in emergencies it is not just the individuals' skills which count, but also the teamwork."

He added: "We can also practice for rare cases which we know will actually be coming to NNU.  For example, conditions that can be identified through antenatal scanning but which staff may not have encountered before."

Equipment will be based on the Neonatal Unit so it is to hand for short training sessions, and current funding will allow a senior nurse to work part-time on the project for a year and half. However, this is just the start.

"Once the simulation training is up and running then we can extend it to any staff in the hospital who might deal with newborn babies requiring emergency care, for example, A&E staff," explains Justin. "We can also extend it to other local hospitals and partner organisations in south west London.

"As there is a lot of interest in simulation, we will also be hoping to look at how effective it is as a means of delivering training and helping staff gain the skills they need."

Justin will be liaising with St George's Clinical Simulation and Skills team, part of Training and Development, in order to set up the Neonatal Unit's simulation training. It is hoped training will be underway by early summer 2010.