Emergency transport for neonates after home deliveries: Expectations of flying squads are too high

EDITOR, - Northern region has had a centralised neonatal flying squad for many years, but we agree with Carol Sullivan and colleagues that the title is misleading.1 It causes confusion and results in an instant response being expected. Such a response has become impossible with the reduction in junior doctors' hours and has always been problematic if the squad is already attending a call.

Community midwives may well have the expectations outlined by the authors,1 and these should be dispelled. A neonatal flying squad could never, however, react sufficiently quickly to fulfil a primary role in neonatal resuscitation. Northumbria ambulance authority has one of the best response times but would not be able to move a squad from hospital to a patient at home in less than 15 minutes from receipt of a call. In the few cases in which …