Premature babies are more likely to survive if treated in high volume neonatal centres, survey finds

Premature babies born in England are more likely to survive if they are treated in specialist units with a large throughput of neonates, an analysis of national data has found.1 This finding should help inform how to organise neonatal services, the researchers noted.

Previous research has shown that centralising neonatal services and closing smaller units can reduce mortality. But after a review in 2003 the government in England reconfigured services into managed clinical networks. These offer …