Table 1 A priori considerations for development and use of a health facility assessment tool measuring service readiness for small and sick newborn care

• Remit: Focused on level-2 small and sick newborn care and in support of World Health Organization (WHO) standards for improving the quality of care for small and sick newborns

• Ability to integrate: Complementary to existing service readiness tools, so can be used as a module with other tools, e.g. maternal and obstetric care (e.g. EmONC) and child health care Health Facility Assessments

• Structure: Organised by WHO health system building block linking to the NEST360 Theory of Change

• Feasibility: Possible to conduct at a hospital in one day by a multi-disciplinary team

• Data use: Sharing structured reports with ward and hospital management to act on identified gaps and areas of good performance