Newborns to benefit from donated blood monitors
10:07am Thursday 21st June 2012 in Where I Live By Lauren May, Chief Reporter
Newborns to benefit from donated blood monitors
New born babies are set to benefit from two new monitors which help detect a blood disorder. The hand held machines, donated by The League of Friends of Sutton and St Helier Hospitals, will allow staff to diagnose jaundice - a common condition in newborns caused by the build-up of a yellow substance in the blood - without the need for a blood test.
Sally Sivas, the trust’s head of midwifery, said: "Thanks to the work of League of Friends, we can now carry out a much kinder, gentler test for most babies, and get immediate results.
"The hand-held meters work by taking a reading from the baby’s skin surface, and is portable - so in addition to staff using it on the wards, community midwives can take it on home visits as part of their ‘kitbag’. This means parents don’t even need to make a trip to hospital, they’ll get the test, and result, in the comfort of their own home."
