Special Care Nursery

Admission to the Special Care Nursery (SCN) is sometimes necessary for newborn babies who are too unwell, premature and/or small to be safely managed in the postnatal ward. 

Special Care Nursery is a level-4 unit that provides holistic care to newborns admitted directly from the postnatal ward or the emergency department. The unit engages a broad care team, providing specialist developmentally-appropriate care.

This unit can deliver immediate resuscitation and stabilisation of very unwell infants, and provide ongoing care until transfer of the newborn to a specialist neonatal intensive care unit.

Unwell, premature or small babies and their families.

Care of your newborn baby will be provided around the clock by a dedicated team of specialists.

• Nurses/Midwives
• Doctors
• Lactation Consultants
• Social Workers
• Speech Therapist
• Opthalmologists

This team will engage with you to develop a plan of care and travel this care journey with you every step of the way.

Babies who are very unwell or born more than 8 weeks before their due date, will be stabilized and transferred to Melbourne. If your baby needs to go to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Melbourne, they will be transported with the Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrieval (PIPER) team, under the care of a neonatal doctor and intensive care nurse. In this situation, BHS will assist you in your own transfer to Melbourne.

There are no restrictions placed on parents with visiting hours, however to create an environment best suited to the developing newborn, we request that all other visitors adhere to the visiting hours. 

Visiting hours for Special Care Nursery are from 2.00pm – 8.00pm.
We prefer to limit the number, so there are only two or three visitors at a time with each baby.