Baby Transferred to Another Hospital

It is common, and it is usually not about your baby getting worse

Bliss states that moving a baby born premature or sick to another hospital is quite common, and that units are very used to it. The word "transfer" lands like bad news, and about half the time it is the opposite. Ask which of the reasons below applies before you assume.

The four reasons

Bliss lists them plainly. A baby may be transferred because they need specialist care, equipment or surgery provided at a different hospital. Because their health is improving and they no longer need a higher level of care, at which point they may be moved closer to home. Because a unit has become full and does not have enough cots or staff to care for another baby. Or for an appointment with a specialist doctor.

Bliss adds that if a baby needs an operation they go to a hospital with a surgical centre and are moved back afterwards, and that they are only transferred when the neonatal team feel they are well enough for the journey.

The cot capacity one, said out loud

The reason parents find hardest is capacity. Being told your baby is being moved because there is no cot feels like being told your baby does not matter, and it is worth naming the mechanics. Neonatal units are organised into regional networks with a limited number of intensive care, high dependency and special care cots, staffed to a required nurse-to-baby ratio. A unit that is full cannot safely admit another baby, so the network finds the nearest unit that can.

It is a system problem, not a judgement about your baby, and it is legitimate to say that it is hard while also accepting that it is safer than the alternative.

How the transfer happens

Bliss explains that babies are moved by ambulance in a special incubator, and that a trained transport team of neonatal doctors and nurses cares for your baby throughout the journey and until they are settled in the new unit. These teams do this all day. The transport incubator has its own ventilator, monitoring and temperature control, so a baby on breathing support can travel on it.

Transfers are often unhurried in the sense that matters: the team waits until your baby is stable enough to move, which is why a transfer talked about in the morning may not happen until the evening.

Can I travel with my baby

Bliss says you should be offered the chance to travel with your baby, but that this might not always be possible. If it is not, you can discuss it with your baby's care team and the transport team, who will talk to you about other arrangements and how they can help. Ask for the receiving unit's direct number before the ambulance leaves, and ask what time they expect to have your baby settled so you know when to ring.

If it is a long way from home

Bliss is honest that a baby may need to be moved to a unit far from home, that this is tiring and expensive, and that you may be offered accommodation near the hospital or help with the costs of travel and parking. It also notes that if the mother who has given birth is still being treated in hospital, for example after a caesarean, she might be transferred to the same hospital so that parents can stay with their baby. That is worth asking about specifically, because it does not always get offered.

Bliss keeps separate guidance on travel and parking costs, including help available on a low income and support from other charities. For a long admission this is not a small matter, and asking early is better than asking when you are already out of money.

Being moved back

Coming back closer to home, sometimes called repatriation, is the good version of a transfer. It happens when your baby no longer needs the level of care the specialist unit provides. Parents are often unexpectedly anxious about it, because the specialist unit has become familiar and safe. That reaction is very common. The receiving unit will be given a full handover, and Bliss's guidance is a useful thing to lean on here: parents describe being shown exactly how the new unit does their baby's cares so they could be involved from day one.

Transfers before birth

Sometimes it is you who is moved, before the birth, so that your baby is born in a hospital with the right level of neonatal care attached. Bliss's guidance for parents expecting a neonatal admission includes visiting the unit in advance and working out how you will travel to and from it. Being moved in labour is disorientating and it is the safer sequence, because it is easier to move a baby before birth than after.

What to ask

Which of the four reasons is this? Is this move temporary or permanent? What is the receiving unit's level and direct phone number? Will I be able to travel with my baby, and if not, when should I set off? Is there parent accommodation, and is there help with travel costs? And if the move is for capacity, ask to be told when a cot becomes available closer to home, because that request needs to be on record somewhere.

Support at the point of transfer

NICE guideline NG72 specifically names transfer between units or hospitals as a time when emotional and psychological support for parents may be particularly valuable, alongside the run-up to discharge. If a transfer has knocked you sideways, that is a documented, expected reaction and there is meant to be somebody to talk to about it.