BAPM releases Neonatal Service Quality Indicators

The British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) has announced the release of the Neonatal Service Quality Indicators endorsed by Bliss.

These indicators define the features of a high quality neonatal service. Also, as Service Quality Indicators, they relate to the structure and delivery of services and as such are different from Clinical Quality Indicators, which relate to the quality of care of individual patients.

The document recommends that neonatal services, with the support of their provider organisation, review themselves against these professional standards and publish information about their current status and future plans in an annual report. To make this process easier, each quality indicator is accompanied by a number of specific quality measures. It also recommends that services use these indicators as a basis for quality improvement, publishing their plans in an annual quality strategy.

Parents and commissioners should expect to have access to information about the performance of neonatal services against the standards described in the document.

The document is published on the BAPM website.