Infant care transfers: simulating neonatal infant pathways and transfers across a neonatal network

Marion Penn and Joe Viana

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2025, vol. 76, issue 9, 1731-1748

Abstract: Neonatal care for preterm and sick babies is organised into local areas around the United Kingdom, called Operational Delivery Networks. These networks coordinate between providers to ensure babies have the required care, close to home. There are three types of Neonatal Units offering distinct levels of needs-based care. The networks need to ensure that each unit operates at optimal cot levels, and the best quality care is provided. The possible impact of any changes to a network’s configuration on transfers and infant care, must be considered before any changes are implemented. Our simulation model reflects the infant pathways within a network allowing users to evaluate a variety of possible changes within the network. The model builds on previous literature by incorporating the ability to move an existing infant from a unit to release capacity as well as moving new arrivals between units. We also consider the potential environmental impact of the additional travel for parents visiting infants who have been transferred. We demonstrate how the model can be applied with a case network within which approximately 60,000 babies are born annually, a tenth of whom requiring some Neonatal Care. Of these infants, approximately 12% are transferred to another unit.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01605682.2024.2442503 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tjorxx:v:76:y:2025:i:9:p:1731-1748

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tjor20

DOI: 10.1080/01605682.2024.2442503

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Operational Research Society is currently edited by Tom Archibald

More articles in Journal of the Operational Research Society from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().