Servo‐controlled cooling during neonatal transport for babies with hypoxic‐ischaemic encephalopathy is practical and beneficial: Experience from a large UK neonatal transport service

Aim Servo‐controlled therapeutic hypothermia is a routine therapy for babies with hypoxic‐ischaemic encephalopathy in the neonatal unit and is delivered in designated cooling centres. It is increasingly being used during neonatal transport in the UK to deliver this therapy in a timelier manner for babies not born in a cooling centre. Prior to the implementation of this treatment, passive cooling alone was used in transport. Comparison of passive and servo‐controlled cooling during neonatal transfers with reference to: (i) the proportion of babies in the therapeutic range (33–34°C) at three time points during the transport mission (arrival of the team at the referring unit, departure of the team from the referring unit and at the completion of transport); (ii) the proportion of babies overcooled at any point once the transport team was present (34°C) at the end of the transfer. Babies who underwent servo‐controlled cooling are more likely to maintain a target temperature (33–34°C) (17 (89%) vs. 17 (58%), P = 0.021); in particular, there is less overcooling (