Asked by: Baroness Wyld (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what proportion of, neonatal units meet the standard for parent accommodation; and whether they plan to allocate capital to bring parent accommodation on neonatal units up to national standard.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The results from NHS England’s Maternity and Neonatal Infrastructure Review, commissioned in 2023, showed that there are 747 parental accommodation rooms within neonatal units nationally. NHS England does not hold data on the standard of these rooms. However, there is undoubtedly variation in the provision of parental accommodation at neonatal units across England and we know that not all maternity hospitals are currently able to offer adequate accommodation for families due to the historic undercapitalisation across the National Health Service. A summary of the findings report can be found on the NHS.UK website. Data on the number of parental accommodation rooms is in the table attached.
As a first step towards improving the NHS maternity and neonatal estate, we are investing £131 million through the 2025/26 Estates Safety Fund to address critical safety risks on the maternity and neonatal estate, enabling better care for mothers and their newborns. The funded works will deliver vital safety improvements, enhance patient and staff environments, and support NHS productivity by reducing disruptions across NHS clinical services.
In addition, the Government is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital in 2025/26, with a further £16.9 billion to be allocated to integrated care boards and providers over the following four years, enabling systems to allocate funding to maternity and neonatal estates services where this is a local priority.
Asked by: Baroness Wyld (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Government response to the House of Lords inquiry into preterm birth: reducing risks and improving lives on 14 January, whether they have received the findings of the NHS maternity and neonatal estates survey; and if so, when they expect to publish them.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England expects to shortly publish the findings of their survey of maternity and neonatal estates, which examined compliances against the current estates’ standards, including the requirements of neonatal parental accommodation.
Asked by: Baroness Wyld (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many home visits from (1) midwives, and (2) health visitors, women currently receive after childbirth.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The health visiting service offer is universal to all families, and is underpinned by the national Healthy Child Programme. This offer begins with the antenatal contact and continues until school entry at five years old. There are five mandated universal contacts for health visiting which include: antenatal review; new birth visit; six to eight week review; one year review; and two to two-and-a-half year review. More targeted support, comprising of additional contacts above the mandated number, are delivered depending on assessment of individual family needs. Mandated health visitor reviews should be held face to face, although there may be local variations and blended approaches used. The health visiting service is delivered in a range of settings including families’ own homes, local community, or primary care settings.
Asked by: Baroness Wyld (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what systems are in place to ensure pregnant women are screened for existing or potential mental health difficulties.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services sets out how the National Health Service will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. A key objective of the plan is to ensure that all women should be offered personalised care and support plans which take account of their physical health, mental health, social complexities, and personal choices.
We are improving the access and quality of perinatal mental health care for mothers and their partners. There are 35 maternal mental health services which combine maternity, reproductive health and psychological therapy for women experiencing mental health difficulties related to their maternity experience. Services in each integrated care system area are due to be operational by March 2024.