Transitional care units help mums and babies to stay together at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

New transitional care units have been opened at both Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, allowing mothers to stay with their babies while they receive the extra care they require.

Janice Mackenzie, associate director of maternity and women's health at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Andover, Basingstoke and Winchester, says: "In the past, babies who need a little bit of help after being born have been treated in our neonatal units, but this means separating them from their mums at the end of each day.

"It is really important to keep babies with their mums if at all possible, so we are very pleased to have been able to open these transitional care units. It allows mums to care for their babies with the help of the maternity staff, while neonatal staff are also on hand to provide the additional support the babies need."

Transitional care is suitable for babies who are well enough to be cared for outside of the neonatal units but require medical treatment such as phototherapy for jaundice or intravenous antibiotics. Women on the units get the benefit of support from trained maternity and neonatal staff, while their babies continue to be monitored by paediatric medical teams on a daily basis.

Stacey Crane's daughter Ivy-Rose Tiller-Stevens was identified as suitable for the transitional care unit at Basingstoke hospital shortly after birth as she needed to be monitored to ensure she didn't lose too much weight or become jaundiced.

Stacey said: "I would not have wanted to have been away from Ivy-Rose, so it's great that they have created this unit.

"It's fantastic to be able to bond and be together, but still get all of the help and support we both need. The staff have been really helpful and given me lots of advice."