Death rate of premature babies in region ‘among highest in country’
NEONATAL MORTALITY rates in Yorkshire and the Humber are among the very highest in England and Wales, a new report has found.
The annual National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) measured mortality in very premature babies, born at 24 to 31 weeks, at neonatal networks across the country for the first time.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, the rate was 7.8 per cent compared to an average of 6.8 per cent across England and Wales, and 4.9 per cent in North Central and North East London, the area of England and Wales with the lowest mortality rate.
The report found wide, unexplained, variation in the rate by network of care.
When these figures were adjusted for characteristics like sex, gestation, birthweight, ethnicity, maternal age, and multiple births, it was found that these background variables did little to explain the variation.
A spokeswoman for the premature and sick baby charity Bliss said a call to action was needed to look further into the disparity and that one possible factor was that some units in some areas are able to take more high risk babies than others which would affect the readings for mortality.
Justin Irwin, Bliss chief executive added: “It’s deeply concerning to see unwarranted variation in neonatal mortality between different neonatal networks.
“The death of a baby has a devastating impact on the families behind these statistics and we encourage networks to implement the recommendations in the NNAP report without delay.
“However, this must be underpinned by swift action from the Government to ensure neonatal care is sufficiently resourced so that all pre-term or sick babies receive the expert care they need.
This is vital for every baby to have the best chance of survival and quality of life.”
The report also found that Yorkshire and the Humber falls short of the nationally recommended number of nurses on a neonatal unit.
Just 64 per cent of neonatal shifts across Britain are numerically staffed according to national guidelines while 44 per cent of neonatal shifts have the recommended number of nurses ‘qualified in speciality’ to care for the babies on the unit.
To have a sufficient number of nurses on all shifts, the Yorkshire and Humber Operational Delivery Network would need its nursing staff to work an additional 5,705 shifts.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “There are tens of thousands more nurses on our wards than in 2010, all working tirelessly to deliver excellent, safe care to patients. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan we have committed to expand our neonatal nursing workforce and the Prime Minister has pledged to increase nursing numbers by 50,000 by 2025.”
The death of a baby has a devastating impact on the families. Justin Irwin, charity Bliss chief executive.