With around 60 paediatric organ donors in the UK annually, there does appear significant potential for donation within the neonatal population. Reconsideration of current infant brain stem death guidelines is required to allow parents the opportunity of donation after neurological determination of death, together with mandatory training in organ donation for neonatal teams, which will also facilitate donation after circulatory definition of death.

Background Small for gestational age (SGA) infants are less likely to develop respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), but more likely to develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and have a higher mortality. Our aim was to focus on outcomes of those with a birth weight less than or equal to 750 g. Methods The mortality, BPD severity, necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), home oxygen requirement and length of hospital stay were determined according to SGA status of all eligible infants in a 5-year period admitted within the first 24 h after birth. Results The outcomes of 84 infants were assessed, and 35 (42%) were SGA. The SGA infants were more mature (P<0.001), had a lower birth weight centile (P<0.001) and a greater proportion exposed to antenatal corticosteroids (P=0.022). Adjusted for gestational age (GA), there was no significant difference in mortality between the two groups (P=0.242), but a greater proportion of the SGA infants developed severe BPD (P=0.025). The SGA infants had a lower weight z-score at discharge (−3.64 vs. −1.66) (P=0.001), but a decrease in z-score from birth to discharge was observed in both groups (median −1.53 vs. −1.07, P=0.256). Conclusion Despite being more mature, the SGA infants had a similar mortality rate and a greater proportion developed severe BPD.

BackgroundPrevious surveys have demonstrated that neonatal resuscitation practices on the delivery suite vary between UK units, particularly according to the hospital’s neonatal unit’s level. Our aim was to determine if recent changes to the Resuscitation Council guidelines had influenced clinical practice.MethodsSurveys of resuscitation practices at UK delivery units carried out in 2012 and 2017 were compared.ResultsComparing 2017 with 2012, initial resuscitation using air was more commonly used in both term (98% vs 75%, p<0.001) and preterm (84% vs 34%, p<0.001) born infants. Exhaled carbon dioxide monitoring was more frequently employed in 2017 (84% vs 19%, p<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in practices according to the level of neonatal care provided by the hospital.ConclusionThere have been significant changes in neonatal resuscitation practices in the delivery suite since 2012 regardless of the different levels of neonatal care offered.

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