Patient identification spreadsheet data collection
Open
Clinical data collection
Open
Organisational data collection
Not open
Publication date
Late 2027
Aim
To improve the quality of acute care provided to babies born before 32 weeks gestation who develop necrotising enterocolitis (NEC).
Participation
All acute hospital providers with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), local neonatal unit (LNU), a special care unit (SCU) or a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) on site across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Jersey.
Inclusion criteria & data collection
We will identify the details of babies born at <32 weeks gestation who developed NEC at <40 weeks of gestation and were discharged/died between 1st January 2024 – 31st December 2025. Babies will be identified for inclusion in two ways:
• Via the National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) or via a study contact where a Trust/Health Board doesn’t return data to NNAP
• Via local reporters using hospital patient administration systems (PAS).
Patient identification (NNAP)
NNAP/the study contact will provide the data on babies with a diagnosis of NEC who were discharged/died between the 1st January 2024 – 31st December 2025
Patient identification (local reporters)
The local reporter will be asked to complete the patient identification spreadsheet with the details of all babies with NEC (ICD10 code P77 in any position) who were discharged/ died between the 1st January 2024 – 31st December 2025. This will help inform part of a wider coding message.
Clinician questionnaires
Two questionnaires will be used to collect clinical data for this study:
• Neonatal questionnaire
• Surgical questionnaire
If a baby is transferred between hospitals, separate neonatal questionnaires will be sent for each admission (where appropriate).
Up to 8 patients per initially admitting hospital will be sampled for inclusion, and up to a maximum of 20 per Trust/Health Board to account for transfers in.
Case note extracts for review
Case notes will be requested for all patients included in the peer review aspect of the study.
Organisational questionnaires
An organisational questionnaire will be sent for all hospitals participating in the study.
Please see the study protocol for more detailed information on the study methods.
Any other queries relating to this study should be sent to nec@ncepod.org.uk .
This page will be updated regularly so please check for further information.
