Preventable Baby Loss

Andy MacNae Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2024 Westminster Hall

[Andy MacNae (Rossendale and Darwen) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) for securing this important debate, and the families for being in the Public Gallery and sharing their experiences. I speak as the father of a daughter called Mallorie, who we lost at five days, so I share their experiences.

We have heard some stark statistics, and I will seek to summarise the national picture and some of the measures that we might be able to take. We have heard about the number of losses, and that every loss is a personal tragedy. We have also heard that every loss is not inevitable. Up to one in five stillbirths and neonatal deaths are preventable. In 2015, the then Government announced an ambition to halve the rate of stillbirths and neonatal deaths by 2025 but, sadly, progress on delivering on that ambition has stalled. Without renewed action we are going to fall well short.

To dig a bit deeper, as my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson) highlighted, there are still further causes for concern. According to the 2022 perinatal mortality report, black babies are more than twice as likely to be stillborn as white babies, and black and Asian babies are more than 50% more likely to die shortly after birth compared with white babies. Research by baby loss charity Sands has explored the reasons for that inequality, and as a result is calling for specific actions to deliver positive, joined-up, empathetic maternity and neonatal care, through its End Inequality In Baby Loss campaign. I urge our new Government to support those actions.

Baby loss charities are highlighting wider areas where improvements could help to prevent baby loss, including greater consistency in ensuring that maternity services meet nationally agreed standards and guidelines. In effect, we know what needs to be done but we need to implement it, particularly in respect of the NHS saving babies’ lives care bundle. Linked to that is the need for maternity units to be properly staffed, as we have heard so many times today. The Sands and Tommy’s joint policy unit estimates that nearly a third of neonatal intensive care unit shifts are not properly staffed. In addition, 63% of midwives have felt unwell in the last 12 months due to stress. Overall, in 2022-23 nearly half of maternity services were rated as “inadequate” or “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission.

We know that the NHS as a whole has been left broken by 14 years of neglect, and now we must look to our new Government to ensure a safe maternity care system in which national guidelines are consistently followed. But sadly, even with the best care and support, many families will still suffer the pain of baby loss. Effective bereavement support can be crucial in helping families to come to terms with their loss. Again, I speak from personal experience in that regard.

Despite wonderful work done by charities—I want to mention the Friends of Serenity in my area of Rossendale and Darwen in Burnley—and by NHS trusts, far too many bereaved parents cannot access the compassionate care that they need. That can hugely impact their wellbeing in the short term and for the rest of their lives. Of course, this has related social and economic costs. As with so many aspects of primary care, effective early support reduces demand in the longer term. The issues and solutions are well understood.

Healthcare professionals across the UK do not have sufficient access to bereavement care training, which means they are not adequately supported to gain the skills and confidence they need to provide excellent care for families when a baby dies—or, indeed, to look after their own wellbeing. The national bereavement care pathway provides nine standards of care across five different experiences of pregnancy and baby loss to ensure equality of bereavement care no matter where a parent lives in the UK. In England, all 128 NHS trusts have now signed up to the NBCP standards. I hope the new Government will consider making the pathway mandatory and providing the funding to help trusts to implement the standards.

I will finish off with a reminder that Baby Loss Awareness Week is coming up in October, culminating in the global wave of light on 15 October. I hope that fellow Members can support the events in their constituencies.