On the evening of Monday 6th July representatives from the Rotary Club of Hitchin Tilehouse and other local Rotary Clubs joined staff from The Lister Hospital in Stevenagel to celebrate the official handover of a state-of-the-art Newborn Baby Simulator to the Neonatal Unit.

With the handover, the Rotary Club of Hitchin Tilehouse has marked an important milestone in its Better Beginnings for Babies campaign, begun in 2025, to raise funds to purchase a Newborn Baby Simulator and a Portable Ultrasound Scanner for the Neonatal and Maternity Units at The Lister Hospital in Stevenage.

The advanced training simulator costing over £26k, purchased with funds raised by the Rotary Clubs and their supporters, will play a vital role in helping neonatal doctors, nurses and midwives develop and maintain the specialist skills needed to care for some of the hospital's smallest and most vulnerable patients.

The handover ceremony celebrated the successful completion of the first phase of the Better Beginnings for Babies initiative, which was launched by the Rotary Club of Hitchin Tilehouse in conjunction with the East & North Herts Hospitals Charity, to provide equipment that enhances the care available to newborn babies and expectant mothers at risk of miscarriage across North Hertfordshire and East Hertfordshire.

The Newborn Baby Simulator will provide highly realistic training, allowing clinical teams to practise emergency procedures and routine neonatal care in a safe environment before treating real patients. By enabling healthcare professionals to build confidence, improve teamwork and refine life-saving techniques, it will ultimately benefit babies who require specialist neonatal care.

During the handover Neonatal Consultant Dr Charu Bhatia demonstrated how the simulator will be used to train trainee doctors and neonatal nurses in such techniques as intubation, the insertion of a breathing tube, especially difficult in neonatal babies. Dr Bhatia explained that the simulator allows doctors and nurses to monitor heart rate, heart rhythms, chest and bowel sounds while creating highly realistic training scenarios.

Speaking at the presentation, Rotary Club of Hitchin Tilehouse President , John Morgan, said "This project demonstrates the difference that local communities can make when we work together towards a common goal. We are pleased to have reached this milestone today and are now focusing our efforts on the second phase of Better Beginnings for Babies, raising the funds to purchase a Portable Ultrasound Scanner for the Maternity Unit. Our summer programme is set to go ahead with a range of events planned to bring people together and support our community. However, we continue to need your support to ensure every event can be delivered as planned, and we thank you for that."

While the presentation marks the completion of the first phase of Better Beginnings for Babies, the second phase of the initiative is now underway, with fundraising focused on purchasing a Portable Ultrasound Scanner for The Lister Hospital's Maternity Unit. The scanner will be used to provide additional scans for expectant mothers with a history of recurrent miscarriages.

advertisement

For this second phase, The Rotary Club of Hitchin Tilehouse will be approaching local businesses in Hitchin and Stevenage seeking donations to help us reach our target.

Anyone wishing to support the next phase of the Better Beginnings for Babies campaign is encouraged to do so via our JustGiving page - https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bbfb - or contact the Rotary Club of Hitchin Tilehouse by emailing [email protected] to find out how they can contribute and help give future generations the best possible start in life.