About Us

Mission:

Helping Scotland get stronger as a nation, by helping the newest generations get the care and attention they need during their first and toughest ever challenge - The fight for life.

Fundraising for St. Johns Hospital Special Care Baby Unit in Livingston, West Lothian is how this charity got started. Increasing awareness of the campaign via the internet has had a positive impact and we have no reason to doubt that with help and word of mouth, this will continue.

Please feel free to make a contribution to our fundraising campaign as the special care baby units will be very grateful.

Special Care Baby is the first charity in Scotland specifically dedicated to helping save the lives of premature and special care babies. Our objectives and aims are all detailed below and we’d be glad to help you in any way we can to fundraise for us or indeed for your local unit.

Born in Scotland on October 18^th 2007 and officially recognised by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator on 23^rd February 2008, we are growing consistently and are seeking the help of organisations and the public alike, to help sustain our growth and become a national charity in Scotland. Your help is absolutely crucial to us and to the 6,000+ babies born in Scotland each year needing this specialist level of care.

We all take for granted that we will have a healthy pregnancy and a relatively trouble free birth, but for more than 11% of mums in Scotland, that’s not exactly what really happens.

The trauma of having a baby several weeks early is something you cannot understand unless you experience it yourself, and we hope that you don’t. The fact is that it does happen, and it happens every day across all of the 16 units in Scotland. Babies are born needing anything from a little bit of oxygen, to full blown life support for weeks before they are out of danger. In some cases, the babies do not make it out of the danger zone, and for their distraught parents, it’s an absolutely agonising, painful experience that may never be recovered from. Special Care Baby would like to grow to a stage whereby we can actually provide support for these families as well as those whose babies can receive direct help from us.

We can only do this with your help and support through fundraising, donation of time, donations in kind and any other form of voluntary assistance you would like to provide.

We would be delighted to hear from you and will give you all the support you need to get your idea off the ground!

If you are a corporate organisation and would like to partner with Special Care Baby or give us your support, please contact Angela Brown on 01506 429278 or 07858 804 612 or email abrown@specialcarebaby.com

Objectives

To raise funds for the Special Care Baby Units across Scotland

To aid in preventing premature babies and their families from having to be transferred many miles away from their new families in order to get the support and round the clock one to one care that they need

To ensure that premature babies and those born needing specialist medical care, have the best possible chances of survival, with the best possible care and equipment

To help others raise funds for their local hospitals’ Special Care Baby Units or Neonatal Intensive Care Units

To expand our trustee base to 7 incorporating those with specific expertise and knowledge in various fields of business and neonatology

To set up a medical advisory panel, to whom we can look for advice and relevant factual information in the preparation of national reports

To set up support networks of parents in 3 areas of Scotland who will be charged with setting up locally based fundraising activity

A systematic review of the need for a specialist breast-feeding nurse in each of our 16 Neonatal Units to support mums of pre-term babies born at 24 weeks or more.

Who Will Benefit?

Premature babies and babies requiring specialist neonatal care at birth

Families and friends of the babies in the units

NHS Special/High Dependency/Neonatal Intensive care units in Scotland

Staff and specialists administering the care to the babies