The Network is one of three neonatal networks in the South Region and comprises 14 hospital neonatal services, parent representatives and voluntary organisations working with commissioners for local maternity care and NHS England Specialised Commissioning for neonatal care.

Neonatal care is provided across three levels of service caring for preterm and sick newborn babies in our network:

Special Care Units (SCU), Local Neonatal Units (LNU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), short term intensive care and high dependency care is provided at LNUs but for complex intensive care, NICU services are provided at Oxford, Southampton and Portsmouth and babies requiring surgical referral or treatment receive their care in Oxford or Southampton and babies born in the network who need cardiac surgery will usually transfer to Southampton.

The Network aims to promote keeping mothers and babies together through our work with maternity services and in situations where transfer between hospitals is needed for mother or baby. The SONeT service is the Southampton Oxford Neonatal Transfer Service and is dedicated to safely transferring babies for uplift in care to a NICU or closer to home to a LNU or SCU. This is the key service to providing expert care across a network system.