Parents & Carers
About London NTS
About Us
We are a specialist team that could be sent to any baby in a London hospital who needs urgent medical care.
Having a baby who is premature, or very sick, is a distressing and often life changing experience. As a transport team, our involvement is often only for a short time, but can be one of the most stressful parts of your baby’s care. We want to make the experience as smooth as possible for you and do our best to make sure you understand everything that is happening whilst giving your baby the very best care available.
Please note: we cannot give out any information about a specific baby, and all of the information on this website describes the process of neonatal (baby) transport in general terms. If you would like to discuss your baby’s care, please contact the hospital where you baby is or has been admitted.
Find out more
Please use the links on this page to find out more about what we do, and what will happen if your baby needs transferring to another hospital. If there is anything more you would like to find out about, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
NTS London is part of the London Neonatal Operation Delivery Network. There is lots of useful information on the London ODN website.
Why is my baby being moved?
About Us
We are a specialist team that could be sent to any baby in a London hospital who needs urgent medical care.
Having a baby who is premature, or very sick, is a distressing and often life changing experience. As a transport team, our involvement is often only for a short time, but can be one of the most stressful parts of your baby’s care. We want to make the experience as smooth as possible for you and do our best to make sure you understand everything that is happening whilst giving your baby the very best care available.
Please note: we cannot give out any information about a specific baby, and all of the information on this website describes the process of neonatal (baby) transport in general terms. If you would like to discuss your baby’s care, please contact the hospital where you baby is or has been admitted.
Find out more
Please use the links on this page to find out more about what we do, and what will happen if your baby needs transferring to another hospital. If there is anything more you would like to find out about, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
NTS London is part of the London Neonatal Operation Delivery Network. There is lots of useful information on the London ODN website.
What happens on transport?
What happens on transport?
A specialist team of nurses, doctors and ambulance crew will come and talk to the team that have been looking after your baby and find out what has been happening. The team might need to start some extra treatments or request and x-ray or scan. Once your baby is ready to travel, the team will put them in a special transport incubator and take them to the ambulance.
How will my baby be transported?
Your baby will be transported in a special incubator on a trolley, that includes a lot of the equipment used in an intensive care unit. The incubator will keep baby warm and monitor their heart rate, oxygen levels and other important information. If your baby needs to be on a ventilator or other specialist equipment, we will be able to do that.
Our ambulances are specially adapted to give your baby a comfortable ride and carry extra equipment in case we need to provide any treatment on the way.
The transport team will all be specialists in the care of sick, newborn babies and will include a doctor or an advanced neonatal nurse practitioner, a senior neonatal nurse, and an ambulance crew member. They have all had specialist transport training.
Can I travel with my baby?
We will do our best to take one parent with us if you would like to go with your baby, but this might not always be possible. There might not be space in the ambulance depending on how big our team is. Depending on when your baby delivered, mum might not be well enough to travel with us because we don't have equipment to look after adults.
If you cannot come with us, we will make sure that you have directions to the new hospital, and we will take your mobile phone number so that we can let you know as soon as baby has arrived.
When will they come back?
If your baby has been transferred to another hospital for specialist care, they will need to stay there until they are getting better. The specialist team will decide when they are ready to go back, and will ask our team to come and transfer your baby.
If the hospital your baby was born at isn't your local hospital, when your baby is getting better you might be asked to go back to another hospital nearer to home.