Services caring for England’s premature and sick babies are still being stretched to the limit and not meeting minimum standards according to a report launched by Bliss, the special care baby charity.
A report, entitled: "The chance of a lifetime?", reveals that there is a shortage of 1,150 nurses to care for the 70,000 babies in need of specialist hospital care each year in England. Neonatal units are working way above the recommended occupancy level putting babies’ lives at risk, the charity claims.
The NHS and Department of Health’s Toolkit for High Quality Neonatal Services was launched in November 2009, and outlines a vision for neonatal services in England. It sets out eight principles by which neonatal care should be delivered to ensure the best outcomes for babies and their families. A modest investment now to improve these vital services will have a benefit to society of £1.4 billion over the babies’ lifetime.
The Bliss report shows that units are chronically understaffed with an extra 1,150 nurses needed to meet the minimum standards set out in the Toolkit. Only a third of units have enough nurses in post to meet these minimum standards and, more than half of these shortages are found in the most specialised centres, intensive care units.
For neonatal units to ensure the optimum care is being delivered to babies the Toolkit sets out that they should have no more than an average of 80% of their cots filled, to allow for occasional peaks in activity and to give babies and their families the level of care and attention they need. A major concern is that four fifths of units ran at a significantly higher average occupancy level than the recommended standard, 100% or over for at least a month during 2009. In addition to this, three quarters of units had to close to new admissions at some point during 2009.
The report also underlines a serious lack of parent accommodation for parents to stay near their baby, with an extra 250 parent rooms needed to meet minimum standards. A recent Government report set out the commitment to provide all parents with babies in neonatal care overnight accommodation, if they needed it, by 2015. However, the report found that 60% of mothers did not have accommodation available for them in or next to the unit and over half said that accommodation for both parents was not available in or next to the unit.
