Improving neonatal resource use through early discharge: Experience of a tertiary neonatal unit with a dedicated neonatal community team

Community neonatal services offer significant social, economic and psychological benefits for families and infants. We describe the profile of infants utilising our community neonatal service, the resources used and benefits of our dedicated neonatal community team. Data were collected prospectively from January 2005 to December 2008 for all infants discharged home under the care of the neonatal community team and at discharge from the team. 799 infants were discharged under the care of the community team for a total of 12,257 days. 40% of infants were tube fed accounting for 2059 days of community care equating to 1.4 special care beds saved per day. Infants between 1500 and 2500g birthweight accounted for 59% of the workload. Readmission rate was 7.8% whilst under the care of the community team. There is increased opportunity for provision of tertiary neonatal facilities as a result of early discharge under the care of the community team.