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Introduction

The Yorkshire Neonatal Cot Bureau is a service funded by the hospitals within Yorkshire.  Established in July 2002, the Cot Bureau aims to locate the nearest, appropriate cot for the neonatal infant.

Based at Leeds General Infirmary, the Regional centre for Neonatal Services, the Cot Bureau will locate cots for you in a professional, efficient way.

Why Contact The Cot Bureau?

It was recognised that locating a neonatal cot could be extremely time consuming and took either a member of the Medical or Nursing staff away from their duties.  The Cot Bureau was established to handle the purely administrative function of finding cots, this allows the Medical and Nursing staff to work without distraction.  And, as it is update periodically throughout the day, it allows you up to have a 'finger on the pulse' of what is happening with neonatal cots throughout Yorkshire at a glance.

How the Cot Bureau works

At the commencement of each shift, the Administrator will make contact with each of the Neonatal Units within Yorkshire to enquire about Neonatal Cot availability.  The database is updated at 8am, 2pm and 9.30pm.

 The Administrators collate figures pertaining to the level of ICU, Special Care and Surgical Cots available within Yorkshire.  If Neonatal Cot availability is low within Yorkshire, the Administrator automatically proceeds to make enquiries with other Regional Neonatal Units.

This information is then compiled into a report and faxed to each Neonatal and Delivery Unit throughout Yorkshire.

How to contact the Cot Bureau

When it is anticipated that a Neonatal Cot will be required, either for an inutero or exutero infant, the Cot Bureau should be contacted in all situations.  We are able to inform you of the up-to -date cot status, either within Yorkshire or at other Regional Units in times of the Yorkshire Regional Unit being closed.

The Cot Bureau is currently open from 8.00am – 10.00pm each day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

The telephone number is 0113 3928499.

Current cot status is available online: Click here for latest cot status report (password required)

The fax number is 0113 3928498

The Administrator will take brief details about the referring doctor, patient history and the anticipated level of care that the infant may require.  She will then contact the nearest, appropriate hospital to enquire whether they are still open for admissions and whether they are able to accept either the infant (if ex-utero) or the mother (if in-utero).

Direct contact details will be taken of the Consultant or Registrar on-call and this information will then be relayed promptly back to you.

You will then be in a position to discuss the medical history directly with the appropriate person in a matter of minutes.

The final decision on where either a mother or infant is placed remains solely with the referring doctor.  None of the Cot Bureau staff are medically trained.

Transportation

In-utero

The Yorkshire Neonatal Transport Team do not transport expectant mothers at this present moment.  The Neonatal Transport Team is made up solely of Neonatal Staff, who are not trained in specialist midwifery techniques.  There is currently no funding available to extend the service to incorporate this need.

All inutero transfers must therefore be arranged between both the referring and receiving hospitals.

Ex-utero

Listed below are the circumstances in which the Neonatal Transport Team is able to assist.

Last modified: April, 2006