SiSS Portable Apnoea Monitors are urgently needed to detect apnoea in special care babies.

Apnoea—pauses in breathing lasting over 20 seconds—can occur unexpectedly in newborns and often goes unnoticed without continuous monitoring. While most special care babies do not require high-dependency care of continuous monitoring, checking for apnoea remains essential, as frequent episodes can signal underlying respiratory, cardiac, or reflex problems.

Currently, the only way to monitor babies stepped down from high dependency to special care is through fixed cardiac monitors, which can increase parental anxiety and restrict movement. SiSS Portable Apnoea Monitors provide reassurance and reliability whilst being portable and compact, allowing parents to move freely around the unit with their baby, improving the neonatal experience and allowing them special bonding time with their babies while ensuring early detection of apnoea.

The SiSS Portable Apnoea Monitors will reduce stress for parents at a very difficult time, provide vital reassurance to staff, and support family-integrated care—enabling parents to play a more active role in their baby’s care while ensuring continuous safety monitoring. Currently unavailable in our hospitals, these monitors would be a significant step forward in neonatal care at Basingstoke and Winchester Hospitals.