Infant and perinatal mortality 2008: Health areas, England and Wales

This week data has been released by the Office for National Statistics on infant and perinatal mortality showing a decrease in stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates. There were 3,369 infant deaths (deaths under 1 year) registered in England and Wales in 2008, giving an infant mortality rate of 4.8 per thousand live births.

In 2008, there were 3,617 stillbirths and 1,763 deaths at ages under seven days registered in England and Wales giving a total of 5,380 perinatal deaths.

The neonatal mortality rate (deaths under 28 days) decreased to 3.2 per thousand live births in 2008, from 3.3 in 2007. The postneonatal mortality rate (deaths between 28 days and one year) remained at 1.5 per thousand live births.

The data presented here include statistics on infant deaths registered in 2008, and live births and stillbirths occurring in 2008, in England and Wales, for residents of each Government Office Region (GOR) and Strategic Health Authority (SHA) in England and Local Health Board (LHB) in Wales.

The stillbirth rate decreased from 5.2 per thousand live births and stillbirths in 2007 to 5.1 per thousand live births and stillbirths in 2008. The perinatal mortality rate also decreased from 7.7 per thousand live births and stillbirths in 2007 to 7.6 per thousand live births and stillbirths in 2008 (Table 1).

To view the full statistical release can be found here- Infant and perinatal mortality 2008: health areas, England and Wales

Premature and sick babies remain at risk in Wales

The Leader Welsh Liberal Democrats this week stated that the Neonatal care in Wales remains in desperate need of extra Assembly Government support, or vulnerable babies will continue to be put at risk.  Kirsty Williams recently met with special baby care charity Bliss who are leading the call for increased specialist nursing provision so that the minimum standards for intensive care are met for babies, as they are for children and adults.

Kirsty Williams said “I am supporting Bliss’s campaign for more specially trained neonatal nurses so that we can have the required one to one nursing. The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling upon the Assembly Government to urgently address the need for some 120 specialist nurses, cots and resources. The threat of losing the UK opt out on the European Working Time Directive will make finding the right staff harder still. Welsh NHS Trusts need the funding to train nurses to Nurse Practitioner Level without sending them to England to get the skills they need.”

Staff shortages causing neonatal units in Scotland to turn away new admissions

Specialist services for babies in Scotland’s hospitals are overstretched and understaffed according to a new report by the premature baby charity Bliss. It says a lack of staff means neonatal units regularly have to be closed to new admissions.

Andy Cole, Chief Executive, Bliss, told Good Morning Scotland, “These are very specialised hospital units that look after the smallest, the sickest, the earliest born babies in Scotland. That could be anywhere down to 23 or 24 weeks of gestation, babies maybe a pound or 2 pounds in weight in some instances.”

Mr Cole said the report had highlighted a shortage of 140 highly qualified and specialised neonatal nurses. This meant that “minimum standards of clinical care” could not always be met and units often had to close their doors to new admissions. Babies then had to be transferred to other units, often involving long journeys, he stated.

He said the Government had made some “very welcome, small, positive steps” to improve the situation but there needed to be a “step change” in recognising that neonatal services were a priority area requiring greater investment.

EDM 2370 was also tabled in Parliament in response to the Bliss Baby Report 2008 on 29th October. It states:

That this House welcomes the release of the Bliss Baby Report 2008; recognises the hard work put in by staff in neonatal units across the country; praises the campaigning efforts undertaken by Bliss to raise awareness of neonatal healthcare issues; is deeply concerned by the desperate shortage, highlighted in the report of specialist nurses in neonatal care units; further recognises the stress and anxiety that staff shortages and lack of adequate treatment capacity in this area creates for staff and parents alike; is worried by the high transfer rates of sick and premature babies to other units due to lack of capacity; calls on the Government to push not for minimum standards, but for the best possible standards in neonatal care throughout the NHS; and in particular calls on the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the minimum nursing levels recommended by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine are adhered to.

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) publishes Perinatal Mortality 2006

The main finding of the report, which covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is that stillbirth rates are not declining. Factors such as social deprivation, obesity and the mother’s age are blamed. In 2006 the stillbirth rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was 5.3 per 1,000 total births, compared to 5.4 per 1,000 in 2000.

However, the report did find that there has been a reduction in the number of babies dying in the month after birth. These neonatal deaths went from 3.9 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 3.4 per 1,000 in 2006.

The report also found that the number of babies dying in the neonatal period from twin pregnancies has also fallen, from 22.3 per 1,000 births in 2000 to 19.3 per 1,000 births in 2006.

To view the full report online report, please go to www.cemach.org.uk.