Title II: Sanitary equipment

The area specifically dedicated to the preparation of feeding bottles is divided, where necessary, into two separate areas, one for the preparation of food for newborns and the other for the maintenance of feeding bottles.

In order to give priority to the mother-child relationship, short-term care for children born in the obstetrics unit and suffering from non-serious conditions that do not require hospitalisation in the neonatology unit may be carried out in the hospitalisation sector provided that the conditions defined in this article are met. These new-born babies may, if necessary, be isolated from healthy new-born babies, treated and monitored at all times in a…

In private health establishments, the contracts concluded in application of the code of medical ethics mentioned in article R. 4127-83 between the establishments and the members of the medical team include provisions organising the continuity of medical care in gynaecology-obstetrics, anaesthesia-intensive care and paediatrics.

When it is not associated with a neonatal intensive care unit on the same site, the neonatology unit has at least six beds. In order to have intensive care beds, the neonatology unit must have at least twelve beds. The neonatology unit is located in the same building or in the immediate vicinity on the same site as the obstetrics unit. If a neonatology unit is created or an existing…

The minimum capacity of six beds may exceptionally be reduced to four if the neonatology unit is geographically isolated, more than an hour’s journey from the nearest neonatology unit and if the needs of the population so require, provided that the isolated unit meets all the conditions laid down in articles D. 6124-50 to D. 6124-57.

The neonatology unit comprises : 1° A room where parents can be welcomed ; 2° An area for monitoring and caring for children, where newborn babies are hospitalised; this area also includes a zone for medical preparation before transfer; 3° A special area for feeding newborn babies; this area may be shared with the obstetrics unit and, if necessary, the neonatal intensive care unit.

An order by the Minister for Health determines the medical equipment available in the monitoring and care sector and the examinations that can be carried out on newborn babies. The pre-transfer medical preparation area enables newborn babies to be prepared for transport to an appropriate specialist unit, if their condition so requires. The specific equipment in this area includes at least one neonatal respirator.

In order to avoid separating mother and child, neonatal care and monitoring of children who do not require intensive care or resuscitation may be carried out in their mother’s room, if the premises and organisation of the obstetrics unit and neonatal unit allow this. These beds are included in the authorised beds of the neonatology unit. In this case, the design, layout and surface area of the premises, the equipment…

If the neonatology unit provides neonatology intensive care as mentioned in article R. 6123-44, it meets the following additional conditions: 1° It must be located in the same building, in the immediate vicinity of and with rapid access to the obstetrics unit; 2° It must have the resources required for ventilation in the first few hours and for transferring the newborn to a neonatal intensive care unit if the child’s…

In all neonatology units which do not provide intensive neonatal care, the following must be ensured : 1° The presence, during the day, on site of at least one paediatrician with proven experience in neonatology ; 2° The presence, at night, on site or on call, of at least one paediatrician with proven experience in neonatology; 3° The continuous presence of at least one nurse, specialised in childcare or experienced…