In collaboration with Health Behaviour Research Limited, Coventry University and an expert working group, Best Beginnings has developed a new clini­cal assessment tool called NUCAT to assess the confidence, knowledge and skills of neonatal staff.

NUCAT was originally developed to support the intensive intervention and evaluation underway at Guys and St Thomas', King College London and Liverpool Women's Hospital by assessing staff’s knowledge of breast milk expression and breast feeding, kangaroo care and positive touch for premature and sick babies pre and post intervention. However NUCAT is now available to all units across the UK.

NUCAT will enable neonatal units to assess their staff’s knowledge of key aspects of family-centred care. It delivers reports for individual staff and on a unit-wide basis. It also provides specific information based on the type of healthcare professionals and number of years’ experience. This will show strengths and weaknesses that can be used as a basis for training and development.

Further information on NUCAT can be found here or further details on how to access NUCAT for your staff, please email [email protected].