My triangle of care was 20 minutes to hospital A; 20 minutes to hospital B; and 30 minutes to get back to home. I completed the triangle every day. My role was father, husband, patient representative and impromptu medical student.
My wife was in hospital A. Our second child, born breach in the back of an ambulance in the early hours of a freezing cold January morning two-weeks prematurely, was in Hospital B. And our first child was near home, waiting for her pick-up at the agreed time. Nothing mattered to me but my triangle of care.
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We wanted certainty that our tiny baby would be okay. But no one could give us concrete answers on her outcome, and we had to take one hour at a time. Surrounding our child in neonatal ICU were rows of tiny incubators each containing an infant apart from their mother and receiving close medical attention.
This is the reality that many families find when their newborn goes into neonatal care. Mother and baby are separated, sometimes in different hospitals. And the mum’s partner shuttles to and from their respective wards, hoping for answers that are for now out of reach.
From April 2025, neonatal care leave will be introduced as a provision from day one of employment. It applies to parents whose newborns are admitted to neonatal care within 28 days of birth and who require a continuous hospital stay of at least seven days. Eligible employees, including biological parents, adoptive parents and intended parents via surrogacy, can take the leave to support the child’s care.
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This entitlement will have a very different purpose to existing leave entitlements. Neonatal care leave is for that daily blur of hospital car park pay machines, updating concerned friends and family, and standing quietly in a room of sick babies hoping and praying that every one of them is building up strength, while staring at your child’s tiny chest rise and fall. This is quite different to welcoming your child into your home, working out the new routines, and taking the time to bond with your baby.
When our child was in neonatal ICU, I was five months into a new job. I could give no guide how long I would be away from work focused on our family crisis. Fortunately, I had a manager who told me "family first" and that I was to initially take a week, and then we’d see how things were and see if I needed another week – and I did.
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Up until the introduction of neonatal care leave, parents with babies in neonatal care have had to use other types of leave, including holiday leave, to provide this care, so the introduction of this new legislation is a positive step for employees. But when it comes to understanding and following the statutory rules, employers need to make the process as easy as possible. In many cases employees will have had no warning that their child is going to require neonatal care, and are not going to have the time to go and search the company intranet for policy details. HR teams and managers need to know the policy and understand how to apply it with clarity and empathy. This is a period where a child’s survival is a major concern, and the employer’s understanding is crucial.
We were fortunate that our child received excellent care and is now a healthy teenager. We will never forget her first days of life or the support we received from my employer when we needed it. With the introduction of neonatal care leave many more parents will take leave when they suddenly have to be present to care for a new life who needs them.
By Tim Pointer, portfolio chief people officer for a financing solutions business
