In January, the UK Ministry of Defence awarded a contract to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUH) and Air Medical Limited (AirMed) for the provision of 24/7 clinical advice and aeromedical support for all of its neonatal, obstetric and paediatric cases around the globe.

Since then, the air ambulance service based at Oxford airport has carried out many missions including transporting a baby with a heart murmur for cardiac assessment, a toddler for neurological assessment and an extremely premature baby for specialist care.

As well as providing initial clinical input and ensuring 24/7 on-call advice is available, a number of the cases have been brought to the OUH for assessment and ongoing specialist care.

AirMed's neonatal medical director Dr Charlotte Bennett is a consultant neonatologist at the trust's newborn intensive care unit and works closely with a number of colleagues from the trust who provide an on-call service for AirMed.

She says: "The relationship we have with AirMed means we can provide a highly responsive service to time critical emergencies. Together with AirMed and the MoD we are able to offer specialist care to military families whose babies become sick or deliver prematurely here in the UK or while posted overseas."

AirMed and the OUH have plans to deliver a consultant-led neonatal transfer service to NICUs across the UK and around the world.