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Welcoming the first hospital in the United Kingdom to our Concord Community
April 2024 – Whittington Health NHS Trust is the first hospital in the UK to have implemented the Concord Birth Flow and Trolley. Following more than 60 hospitals in Western-Europe, we are happy to welcome them to our Concord Community.
Whittington Health NHS Trust provides hospital and community care services to 500,000 people living in northern London. Its maternity service incorporates a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which cares for sick and premature babies born from 27 weeks onwards. Deliveries are increasing, currently nearly 3,500 annually with nearly 400 admissions to the NICU. The neonatal and obstetrics team works closely together to ensure that every baby receives the best possible care, tailored to them.
Hospitals in the UK were among the first in the world to adopt and implement new methods to stabilize newborns with an intact umbilical cord. In 2021, the British Association of Perinatal Medicine launched a toolkit for Optimal Cord Management and in 2022, NICE amended their guideline to recommend delayed cord clamping in preterm babies. Since last year, the NHS issued a guideline to mandate NHS hospitals to delay cord clamping for at least 60 sec. in preterm babies, where possible.
Whittington Health is the first hospital in the UK to take Optimal Cord Management in preterm babies to the next level with the implementation of the Concord Birth Flow & Trolley. This approach allows the birthing and resuscitation team at the hospital to stabilize the baby with an intact cord, until the baby’s transition is completed physiologically.
Dr. Wynne Leith, consultant neonatologist and Dr. Chandrima Biswas, consultant obstetrician at Whittington Health comment: “We are excited to implement the use of the Concord Birth Trolley, which will help us to provide intact cord resuscitation for the majority of our preterm babies for as long as possible - this also includes caesarean births.”
In the picture: Dr. Uche Ogunna, consultant neonatologist at Whittington Health.