Working in collaboration with two other charities Royal Berks Charity and New Life, the local neonatal unit at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust now have four new-generation incubators, offering advanced features designed to create a safe, controlled environment for these vulnerable newborns.

Sarah Critchley, BIBS Chief Executive said, “we are indebted to the local community who have enabled us to achieve this with their fundraising and donations – namely our Reading Half Marathon teams in 2024 and 2025 and also kind donors to our Incubator Appeal.”

“By seeing an opportunity to collaborate with other charities we have all been able to achieve more, working together. A real success story that will make a huge difference for Buscot babies and families for years to come.”

The new Atom Dual Incu-I Incubators selected by the Buscot team include several new innovations:
• A tilting mattress platform for improved positioning, ensuring optimal comfort and medical care.
• A built-in phototherapy unit providing essential treatment for jaundice, reducing the need for additional equipment.
• An external x-ray cassette tray, allowing imaging without disrupting temperature stability.
• A specialised air curtain that helps maintain warmth, even when access ports are opened, minimising temperature fluctuations.

These innovations provide optimal protection and specialised care to help tiny patients grow stronger during their critical early days, ensuring they receive the warmth, stability and medical support needed to thrive. By minimising stress and promoting healthy development, these advanced incubators give premature and critically ill newborns the best possible start in life.

The event gave parents the chance to chat over a sandwich and a cupcake, share experiences, find out more about BIBS, and most importantly – celebrate how amazing our Buscot children are!

Here are some pictures showing what a lovely time we had  - hope to see you there next year!

This month we’d like to say a massive thank you to Fiona Stevens of Leap Frog Ceramics in Warfield who has raised an amazing £1000 for BIBS by donating £5 per bowl through her “Paint a Pot for BIBS” offer.

She raised the money after her friend Simone Saunders’ twins Rocco and Bruk were born 12 weeks early and spent nearly 3 months on Buscot.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/health/warfield-mum-helps-raise-cash-6933436

Simone (along with friend Cathy) is also taking part in the Tough Mudder assault course this April in aid of BIBS.

http://www.justgiving.com/catherine-mason1

We’d also like to thank Russell Fry who completed the London marathon for BIBS this month. He completed the race in 4hrs, 29 mins, 37 seconds – well done Russell! To date he’s raised over £1,850 via his JustGiving page.