Data
The NWNODN uses data to inform improvements to Neonatal services across the North West. We do this by analysing data for every Neonatal Unit to ensure that care follows the correct pathways and that the units have the required capacities to meet service demands and allow planning for future practice. The NWNODN also uses data to inform, develop and review the efficiency of our work programmes.
The NWNODN produces several reports:
Quarterly reports: The quarterly reports look at admissions, activity and occupancy on a rolling quarterly basis and are fed into locality steering groups where changes to services are discussed. In addition to activity, the reports also look at criteria such as cooling and mortality.
NWNODN Dashboard: The dashboard looks at activity and transfer information in the NWNODN, units closures and a range of clinical and outcome measures to allow comparison of activity at a local level with national benchmarks, many of which are National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) measures.
A Guide to the NWNODN Dashboard Measures & Flags 2025/26
The National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) website
Optimisation measures 2024 with badger instructions
Exception Reports: Weekly exception reports monitor deviations from care provided outside agreed care pathways.
All Neonatal Units in the North West currently use BadgerNet as a safe and secure means of collecting and storing patient data. The use of a single database means there is a single care record across all localities and units, meaning a very high level of data sharing and reporting accuracy.
The quality of Neonatal care in the North West is also reported on via the National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) and the Specialised Services Quality Dashboard (SSQD). NNAP is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership to inform action planning at a unit and network level, whilst helping hospital management, commissioners and policymakers to prioritise future funding and support. The information provided by the SSQDs is used by NHS England specialised services commissioners to understand the quality and outcomes of services and reasons for excellent performance. Healthcare providers can use the information to provide an overview of service quality compared with other providers of the same service.
Information for parents
Data collected by staff on the neonatal unit is used to create a National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD). The information within the NNRD is called the Neonatal Data Set. This information is used to support research, surveys, quality improvement programmes and management reports aiming to improve newborn care and health outcomes. Any use of this information for research requires approval from a National Research Ethics Committee. No details that might identify you or your baby would be revealed. The NNRD is created and held at the Neonatal Data Analysis Unit (NDAU) where research projects are carried out. These include linkage studies with other sets of data such as hospital admission statistics (HES) and mortality data sourced from the public body NHS Digital. Data from 2006-2007 onwards are held on the database.
To find out more there are a couple of parent information leaflets which units are welcome to share with parents.
