RE: BOD shake up3 Nov 2025 17:17
A year on from the book’s publication, the fund has helped establish a testing system in the Rotunda Hospital that allows for the testing of vulnerable newborns.
In place since April, the testing is, in essence, a cheek swab that is placed into a machine that can present results in 26 minutes. The test can tell staff whether the child has a gene that places them at risk of receiving a certain antibiotic.
The antibiotic is important and used to treat sepsis, but for some babies, it can lead to hearing loss. This is rare and affects around 2-4 of 1,000 babies. The gene testing enables doctors to opt for a different antibiotic that won’t place the baby at risk.
So far, around 130 babies in the Rotunda’s neonatal unit have been tested.