‘Empirical treatment of neonatal sepsis: are the current guidelines adequate?’1 makes recommendations for empirical antibiotic treatment of neonates based on voluntary surveillance data relating to blood culture isolates. The adverse effects of antibiotic treatment do not appear to have been considered and the recommendations do not differentiate between early and late sepsis.

In 2010, the NPSA (National Patient Safety Agency) reported that, over a 1-year period, 507 incidents involving gentamicin treatment of neonates were notified, …