Ministry of Health

NZ Government

    
 ©Copyright
 Published: 29/11/2011

The Paediatricians at National Women's Health Newborn Services provide a follow-up service for babies who have been cared for by the service.  A timetable is included below.  Registrars and house officers are welcome to sit in with the specialists during their clinic sessions.

The focus of the clinic is surveillance.  If problems are identified, babies will generally be referred to another service (such as general paediatrics).

Infants who have been back-transferred to another neonatal unit - even in Auckland - will be followed by paediatric services at that hospital, rather than at National Women's Health.

Criteria for Follow-Up at National Women's Health

• Preterm infants
  • All infants with a birthweight <1500g
  • Infants <32 weeks
• Infants <3rd% for birthweight who have been admitted to NICU
• Infants with at risk of neurological or developmental problems
  • Infants who were ventilated in the newborn period and where there are concerns about the degree of illness and the risk of subsequent growth or developmental problems
  • Infants with seizures in the newborn period, unless referred to another follow-up service
  • Infants who had meningitis, unless referred to another follow-up service
  • Infants who were neurologically abnormal on discharge and who are not being followed by other services
  • Note that most term infants who have identified neurological problems at discharge will be followed by their local developmental paediatric or neurology services
• Infants in research studies (e.g. selective head cooling).  These may be followed up by the researcher involved
• Infants born to mothers on the methadone programme or mothers using significant quantities of alcohol in their pregnancy (these infants will generally see Dr Buksh or Dr Rowley)
• Some infants with congenital anomalies or other problems (for example, infants with an Erb's palsy) who are not being followed by another service
• Families of infants who have died whilst on NICU will be offered an appointment to discuss events surrounding the baby's admission and death
• Some infants who do not qualify for routine neonatal follow-up but are being followed by neonatal home care services may be referred following discharge if there are clinical concerns

Timing of Follow-Up

• The need for and time of follow-up should be discussed with the specialist concerned or the specialist on service responsible for the care of the infant in NICU
• The timing of the first follow-up is for 3 months following discharge
  • Dr Bloomfield prefers to see the infants 4 months after going home
• Infants are generally seen intermittently until the age of around 18 months
• Appointments can be requested by neonatal staff via the request an appointment link

Timetable

Revised May 2009
Malcolm Battin