World Prematurity Day: Babypods and pitstops - how Williams advanced care for early babies

Those who know me, know that my daughter was born prematurely in 2021. Premature babies require all the help they can get at varying levels, depending on just how early they were born. 24 weeks is classed as a ‘viable’ pregnancy, meaning a baby can get help if they are born after this date. Thanks to Williams F1 Team and their Advanced Technology department - huge steps have been made to improve health, reliability and the infant mortality rate.

Pitstops

The link between medical care and pitstops has been publicised before, with F1 known for its tactical, measured and safe approach to: lifting a car, removing wheels, putting on new ones, adjusting wings and any other required task in a matter of two to four seconds.

In terms of premature babies, doctors at University Hospital Wales in Cardiff worked alongside Williams in 2016 to understand pitstop procedures with the aim of applying their findings to resuscitation of newborns.

They found both operations (pitstops and resuscitation) require a team working with finite time and space. Their solutions?

• standardised floor space mapped out in delivery theatres

• Equipment trolleys audited and streamlined to ensure required equipment is easily accessible and safe

• Implementation of F1-style ‘radio-check’ communications and universal hand signals to avoid unnecessary verbal communication - i.e everyone has a set task ahead of starting

• Video analysis - watch what they did to see where improvements can be made

Babypod

A Babypod is the brainchild of ‘Advanced Healthcare Technology’, and is a lightweight box used for transporting babies who are critically ill.

The device is built by Williams’ Advanced Technology department, and is made from carbon fibre, the same material F1 cars are made of, and is also heavily padded and insulated. The Babypod is just 9kg (imagine holding nine bags of sugar), and was built to withstand up to 20G of force to protect from accidents e.g the ambulance transporting a baby is involved in an RTC (Road Traffic Collision).

In the past, incubators were used but they are heavy, not space efficient and required electricity from an external source.

Premature babies can be very small, and are often measured in grams, highlighting just how small they can be - my daughter for example was born weighing 1502g (a bag and a half of sugar, if you will). Scary stuff if you’re the parent or family involved, but I’m glad to say she’s just turned 4 and is thriving!

Williams are very much at the forefront of development for many things, but this one is incredibly important.

📸 Image credits: Williams Racing, Formula Motorsport Limited, Global Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants.