Characteristics of tertiary neonatal units in the sample
| Variable | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of unique neonatal units contributing data to primary sample | 30 | 34 | 41 | 42 | 41 |
| Summary statistics for whole sample | |||||
| Total intensive care days | 63 036 | 70 256 | 75 400 | 89 893 | 97 681 |
| Total one-to-one care days | 9415 | 6086 | 6085 | 7080 | 7474 |
| Percentage of intensive care days on which one-to-one nursing was provided | 14.9 | 8.7 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| Percentage of infants receiving intensive care and at least one day of one-to-one nursing | 38.4 | 38.6 | 37.0 | 37.6 | 36.4 |
| Monthly intensive care mortality rate (%) | 4.5 | 4.9 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 5.4 |
| Monthly median (IQR) values of neonatal units in the sample reported by year | |||||
| Monthly intensive care days provided | 181 (121.5 to 235.5) | 176 (122 to 237) | 151.5 (100.2 to 233.5) | 159 (114 to 249) | 178.5 (120 to 272.2) |
| Monthly one-to-one care days provided | 13 (6 to 30) | 9 (4 to 20) | 10 (4 to 18) | 11 (5 to 19) | 11 (5 to 21) |
| Percentage of intensive care days on which one-to-one nursing was provided | 9.1 (3.8 to 17.5) | 6.1 (2.6 to 11.7) | 6.2 (3.2 to 11.8) | 6.5 (3.4 to 11.2) | 5.9 (3.1 to 10.8) |
| Percentage of infants receiving intensive care and at least one day of one-to-one nursing | 39.4 (25.4 to 55.0) | 37.5 (26.1 to 50.0) | 36.8 (25.0 to 50.0) | 37.5 (25.0 to 50.0) | 35.7 (25.0 to 47.1) |
| Monthly intensive care mortality rate (%) | 4.0 (0.0 to 7.7) | 4.4 (0.0 to 7.7) | 5.3 (0.0 to 9.1) | 5.3 (0.0 to 9.5) | 4.5 (0.0 to 8.3) |
Tertiary units were identified as those reporting tertiary-level classification to the Neonatal National Audit Programme in 2010. The number of neonatal units varies over the period of the sample due to data becoming available and permissions being granted or ending for the National Neonatal Research Database and Neonatal Economic, Staffing, and Clinical Outcomes Project, as well as mergers and closures of existing units (see online supplementary appendix C). Data on the number of open intensive care costs were not available.