The definition of the Neonatal Critical Care is linked to the definition of Neonatal Critical Care Healthcare Resource Groups. These closely follow the definitions contained in the 2003 Department of Health report 'Report of the Neonatal Intensive Care Services Review Group'.
This takes account of related definitions which have been developed for the Maternity and Child Health data sets which are currently being drafted by The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.
The scope of the Neonatal Critical Care Minimum Data Set is:
| a) | All PATIENTS on a WARD with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION Neonatal Intensive Care Unit regardless of care being delivered. |
| b) | All PATIENTS (excluding Mothers) on a WARD with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION Facility for Babies on a Neonatal Transitional Care Ward or Facility for Babies on a Maternity Ward to whom one or more of the following CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES applies for a period greater than 4 hours: |
| 01 | Respiratory support via a tracheal tube |
| 02 | Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (nCPAP) |
| 04 | Exchange Transfusion |
| 05 | Peritoneal Dialysis |
| 06 | Continuous infusion of inotrope, pulmonary vasodilator or prostaglandin |
| 07 | Parentral Nutrition |
| 08 | Convulsions |
| 09 | Oxygen Therapy |
| 10 | Neonatal abstinence syndrome |
| 11 | Care of an intra-arterial catheter or chest drain |
| 12 | Dilution Exchange Transfusion |
| 13 | Tracheostomy cared for by nursing staff |
| 14 | Tracheostomy cared for by external carer |
| 15 | Recurrent apnoea |
| 16 | Haemofiltration |
| 22 | Continuous monitoring |
| 23 | Intravenous glucose and electrolyte solutions |
| 24 | Tube-fed |
| 25 | Barrier nursed |
| 26 | Phototherapy |
| 27 | Special monitoring |
| 28 | Observations at regular intervals |
| 29 | Intravenous medication |
If one or more of these CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES apply to a PATIENT, then the PATIENT would be counted as receiving Neonatal Critical Care at the level of Intensive Care, High Dependency Care or Special Care depending on the CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES which apply.
Except in very exceptional circumstances, CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES 01 to 16 will only occur in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit environment where all PATIENTS are covered by Neonatal Critical Care Minimum Data Set regardless of treatment. Care on WARDS with a CRITICAL CARE UNIT FUNCTION of 'Facility for Babies on a Neonatal Transitional Care Ward' or 'Facility for Babies on a Maternity Ward' will only be in respect of CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES 22 to 29 unless very exceptional circumstances apply. This does not prevent these WARDS recording CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES 01 to 16 on the Neonatal Critical Care Minimum Data Set if they occur. However, it does mean that such settings will in practice be dealing with a much shorter list of CRITICAL CARE ACTIVITIES which would determine whether the Neonatal Critical Care Minimum Data Set applied or not.