Every hour and a half a baby is stillborn or dies shortly after birth in the UK – totalling 17 babies each day. This is four times the number of people who die every year of MRSA.
Moreover, there are strong indications that significant numbers of these deaths could be avoided. A report, Saving Babies’ Lives (2009), published by Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, highlights several problem areas that are contributing to this level of mortality. Maternity services in the UK are under considerable strain from lack of resources and funding, and there is strong evidence to suggest that this is contributing to baby deaths. The last Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy found that nearly half of all unexplained stillbirths, might have been avoided with better antenatal care. New evidence from a Sands survey of 270 bereaved parents found that almost half of parents (48%) did not feel that everything possible was done to save their baby’s life, they felt rushed through their antenatal appointments (36%) and not completely confident about the way in which they were cared for in the lead up to their baby’s death (49%). There is a severe shortage of neonatal nurses with 1,700 posts needing to be filled and only 14 out of 50 intensive care units in the UK provide minimum standards of one-to-one care for sick and premature babies. The report also highlighted a serious shortage of funding for research to understand and prevent stillbirths. It added that there is potential to detect babies at risk of stillbirth and deliver them early, but there is a need for increased funding for research and trials of interventions. Sands commented that £6 million over the next five years could significantly reduce the number of babies dying. A survey of UK adults conducted by the charity also revealed that awareness of the level of stillbirth is low and that mums-to-be are not being made aware of the risks. Some 42% of mothers did not receive any information on stillbirth from their midwife. The charity concluded that there is a need to create a national strategy to reduce the number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths. This should include changing antenatal care by developing a culture of continual risk assessment within maternity service provision, in order to identify higher risk pregnancies, as well as the recruitment and training of more midwives.
