Spine Plots

Here we present spine plots that allow neonatal units to review their performance in select NNAP measures in a single compact diagram.

Performance on each measure is shown with a coloured disk positioned on a horizontal line for each measure. The line extends from the lowest to the highest value for that measure among all the neonatal units. LNUs with blue dots and NICUs have pink dots. A black diamond represents the network rate for the network the presented unit belongs to.

The rates are scaled so that the national rates are aligned to a single vertical line for all measures and orientated so that better performance is to the right-hand side. A grey bar describes the expected range - two standard deviations either side of the national rate, akin to a funnel plot. No standard deviations are presented for the nurse staffing measure.

The measures of “BPD or death” and “Mortality” are represented by ‘treatment effect’ – favourable outcomes are presented as a dot to the right of the line.

The measures are abbreviated as follows:

• ANS – antenatal steroids;
• BFD – breastmilk feeding at discharge;
• MAG – magnesium sulphate;
• BFE – breastmilk feeding at 14 days;
• TMP – admission normothermia;
• FLW – two year follow up;
• CON – parental consultation;
• NST – number of shifts numerically staffed according to guidelines;
• ROP – Ontime retinopathy of prematurity screening;
• BPD – bronchopulmonary dysplasia;

For more details of these measures, please see the NNAP measures guide