An operational neonatal patient acuity tool for measuring clinical dependency of each infant on a unit

This article discusses the development and introduction of an operational ‘neonatal patient acuity tool’, which enables staff to measure the level of clinical dependency of each infant and use that measurement as the foundation for a risk assessment that is linked to the number of nurses available on each shift. Since its conception the neonatal patient acuity tool has been rolled out to all neonatal units in Wales by the Wales Neonatal Network.