One of the first people to be treated as a baby at Bath’s Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care 15 years ago has praised the centre at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust as he returned to the centre to meet the team this week with RUHX.
As the centre celebrates it’s 15-year anniversary this Thursday, 23rd July, Joshua Heather who was the first baby to stay in the new unit in 2011 said: “It’s great to see where I was cared for and to meet some of the wonderful people that helped me. And, as I’m interested in engineering, I enjoyed hearing about how this new neonatal unit was specially designed to help new babies grow and develop.”
(Joshua and mother Cheralyn, pictured with ‘first new Neonatal Centre baby’ certificate from Joshua’s baby box)
Joshua visited the unit again with his Mother Cheralyn and they met Cath Ould, from the neonatal outreach team who remembered him from when he was born in 2011 and visited Joshua and his family at home! A truly emotional and memorable moment. Cheralyn explained that it was “quite emotional to come back and show Joshua where he was cared for, right down to the space where his incubator was – when he weighed only 1.5kg”
As the first baby to have experienced both the cramped and noisy conditions of the old NICU and the benefits of the new facilities, Joshua Heather, was transferred to the Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care the first weekend of opening. At the time Cheralyn, said she was thrilled to be part of this memorable day and was amazed at the light airy conditions of the new building. “It is a real transformation and will give me the opportunity to spend more time with Joshua in such comfortable and spacious surroundings” she said back in 2011.
Over 15 years, the team has supported approximately 10,000 babies and families, delivering compassionate, high-quality, family integrated care.
The Centre was supported by a generous donation from the James Dyson Foundation in 2011. The Foundation also supported research that found that the Centre improved clinical outcomes – with babies sleeping longer on average and majority going home breast feeding.
Mum Abby, whose daughters Florence and Freya who were cared for at the centre in 2025, said: “When our twin daughters were born at 29 weeks, we spent just over eight weeks in NICU, before finally bringing our girls home in July 2025. The kindness, compassion and dedication of the nurses and staff made such a difference. They became like family to us, supporting not only Florence and Freya but all of us through one of the most challenging times of our lives. The Dyson Centre will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we will always be grateful to everyone at the Dyson Centre for giving them the very best start and for the care, reassurance and kindness they showed our family every single day.”
(Babies Florence & Freya being cared for in the unit in 2025)
The centre has a progressive layout that leads the way in improving quality of life for sick and premature babies. The building includes:
- A clockwise circuit of cot rooms, starting with intensive care, leading to special care and finally home, which creates a psychological effect of progress.
- Square box windows, providing light and open reflective spaces.
- Exposed internal timber creating a calmer, domestic environment within a clinical setting.
- Large windows, giving controllable natural light throughout, allowing babies, parents and staff to be aware of changing outside conditions.
The neonatal unit continues to be supported by us at RUHX, whose ongoing involvement and funding helps enhance patient experience, wellbeing initiatives, and the overall care environment for families. Providing new equipment including (but not limited to) the Lori-Grace family room including a new family shower room, specialist thermometers and the six high tech advanced incubators kindly donated by The Medlock Charitable Trust.
Since opening, the centre and its team have proudly received outstanding recognition for its high standards of care that include:
- UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Full Accreditation
- BLISS Baby Charter (Silver standard, with Gold coming soon)
- Gold Ward Accreditation.
Continuous improvement has been central to this success with innovations to improve parent-baby care that include birth registration on the neonatal unit, reducing the need for parent–baby separation and introduction of home nasogastric tube feeding, enabling earlier discharge and supporting families at home.
The next stage of development includes the plan to introduce biometric access for families, enabling parents to access the unit without delay and be with their babies when they are not resident on the unit.
Kirstie Flood, Lead Nurse, said: “Building strong relationships with families is a priority. One of the ways we do this is through our annual Teddy Bear Picnic events that connect families that have had similar experiences. We invite families cared for in the past two years in the centre, so it also updates the team here on the progress of baby since they left us which is so important for the whole Neonatal unit team.”
(Members of the centre’s team pictured this week, the 15th anniversary week. Including Cath Ould and Esther – who were both part of the team when the new centre opened)
There also are weekly music therapy sessions for babies and families using the centre, extending care beyond clinical treatment with a focus on emotional wellbeing, bonding, and supporting families throughout their journey.
Looking Ahead as the centre celebrates 15 years, what’s next…… is achieving Gold BLISS Baby Charter accreditation and as the team continue to innovate and improve – strengthening partnerships with families and stakeholders.
