ABSTRACT.The effect of skilled transport on the condition of 100 infants referred for intensive care and the factors affecting their survival were analysed. Infants with respiratory failure who were not moribund showed significant increases in pH (P<0.01) and arterial/alveolar P02 ratio (P<0.001) with assisted ventilation. Less severely ill infants were transported without significant change in pH and blood gas status. Hypoxaemia (17%), hyperoxaemia (24%) and hyperglycaemia (14%) were not uncommon on admission to the newborn intensive care unit.Survival rate did not decrease significantly with decreasing birth weight or gestation. Factors significantly more common in infants who died were one minute Apgar score 0–3 (P<0.05), and pH<7.25 (P60 mmHg (P<0.005) on admission to the NICU. Infants mechanically ventilated before transport did not have a significantly higher mortality rate than those ventilated after admission, though moribund infants and those with untreated early onset bacterial pneumonia had high mortality rates.Pre‐transfer events were responsible for the death of 8 (38%) of the 21 infants who died and perhaps contributed to the death from intraventricular haemorrhage of a further 5 infants (2