May. 23 2024
Source Page: Plan for Jobs Cross-cutting Evaluation Wave 1 and 2 synthesis reportFound: for Jobs: Year s 1 and 2 synthesis report 187 dental treatment, free prescriptions, Sure Start maternity
May. 23 2024
Source Page: Maternity Services Monthly Statistics, Final February 2024, Provisional March 2024, experimental statisticsFound: Maternity Services Monthly Statistics, Final February 2024, Provisional March 2024, experimental statistics
Mentions:
1: Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con - Life peer) Industries in another place, and indeed to my right honourable friend Sir John Whittingdale, who covered her maternity - Speech Link
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many newborns died at the Countess of Chester hospital's maternity unit in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016, (e) 2017 and (f) 2018, broken down by month.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested.
The number of neonatal deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital is available publicly at the following link:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/neonatal_deaths_and_fois#incoming-1255362
Additionally, data published by the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) programme can be filtered by Trust, including the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Data published by MBRRACE-UK which shows the neonatal mortality rate for the Countess of Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for the years 2013 to 2018 can be found at the following link:
https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports/perinatal-mortality-surveillance
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing targeted support for (a) infant and (b) parental mental health while a family is experiencing homelessness.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As part of NHS England’s Maternity and Neonatal Three-Year Delivery Plan, NHS England is working to rollout Maternal Mental Health Services for women experiencing mental health difficulties related to loss or trauma in the maternity or neonatal context. This may include those who experience post-traumatic stress disorder following birth trauma, perinatal loss, or severe fear of childbirth, known as tokophobia.
As of February 2024, 39 Maternal Mental Health Services have been established, which provide psychological therapy for women experiencing mental health difficulties related to their maternity experience. Every integrated care system area will soon have these services in place.
In December 2023, NHS England published new guidance for general practice (GPs) on the postnatal appointment women should be offered six to eight weeks after giving birth. This provides an important opportunity for GPs to listen to women in a discrete, supportive environment.
We also continue to engage with a number of other departments and representative groups to discuss what can be done to mitigate the effect of housing insecurity and homelessness on mental health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to promote parental mental health (a) during pregnancy and (b) in the first two years of infancy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As part of NHS England’s Maternity and Neonatal Three-Year Delivery Plan, NHS England is working to roll out Maternal Mental Health Services for women experiencing mental health difficulties, related to loss or trauma in the maternity or neonatal context. This may include those who experience post-traumatic stress disorder following birth trauma, perinatal loss, or severe fear of childbirth, also known as tokophobia.
As of February 2024, 39 Maternal Mental Health Services have been established, which provide psychological therapy for women experiencing mental health difficulties related to their maternity experience. Every integrated care system area will soon have these services in place.
In December 2023, NHS England published new guidance for general practices (GPs) on the postnatal appointment women should be offered six to eight weeks after giving birth. This provides an important opportunity for GPs to listen to women in a discrete, supportive environment.
The guidance asks family doctors to provide personalised postnatal care for the mother’s physical and mental health, and to support them with family planning. This will include information and resources on assessing and addressing mental health needs and importantly sets out practical initiatives to improve access, experience, and outcomes.
Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, £100 million is being invested in bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support for the 1,001 critical days from pregnancy to a baby’s second birthday, in 75 local authority areas in England.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will bring back the six-week post-delivery check for all mothers with their GPs, including questions on the mother’s physical and mental health as well as on the baby.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2023, NHS England published new guidance on the six-to-eight-week postnatal check-up for all women who have given birth. As a result of this guidance, all new mothers in England will receive a more comprehensive mental and physical check-up from their general practitioner (GP) in the weeks after they give birth. The check-up will cover a range of topics such as mental health, physical recovery, breastfeeding, and support with family planning.
The routine check-up provides an important opportunity for GPs to listen to women in a discrete, supportive environment, and to assess and support women not just in their physical recovery post-birth but also their mental health, making sure any woman needing extra mental health support can be referred, if appropriate, to a specialist straight away.
The six-to-eight-week postnatal check-ups should be offered by GP surgeries, but mothers can also request an appointment for a check themselves, especially if they have any concerns.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will bring forward an overarching national maternity strategy to aid the improvement of maternity services and prevent birth trauma.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and NHS England Chief Executive Officer Amanda Pritchard both support the overarching recommendation from the Birth Trauma All-party Parliamentary Group inquiry report, for a comprehensive national strategy to improve maternity services. We will update on next steps in due course.
We are already making good progress on many of the individual recommendations set out in the inquiry report. This includes new guidance for general practitioners on the postnatal check-up that women should be offered six to eight weeks after giving birth, which is solely focused on the mother. We are also rolling out new physical and mental health services for new mums and mums-to-be so that they are available in all areas of England.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to (1) recruit, (2) train, and (3) retain, more midwives, obstetricians and anaesthetists to ensure safe levels of staffing in maternity services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of midwives has already increased by 21.5% since 2010 and by 5.8% in the past year. The Government is further increasing the number of midwives by funding an additional 160 new posts over three years to support the continued growth of the maternity and neonatal workforce.
The Government and the National Health Service are investing almost £35 million over three years to further improve maternity safety across England which will support specialist training for staff, additional numbers of midwives and support to ensure maternity services listen to and act on women’s experiences to improve care.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets an ambition to increase the number of nursing and midwifery training places to around 58,000 by 2031/32. We will work towards achieving this by increasing places to over 44,000 by 2028/29, with 20% of registered nurses qualifying through apprenticeship routes compared to the current 9% and 5% of midwives to train through an apprenticeship, compared to less than 1% currently.
The Plan also sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The Government is backing this Plan with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. This forms part of our ambition to expand the number of midwifery training places from 3,778 in 2022, to 4,269 by 2028, providing a substantial uplift in the workforce pipeline to meet future demands.
The NHS England's nursing and midwifery retention programme aims to support organisations in assessing and implementing a set of interventions aligned with the People Promise. This initiative focuses on promoting flexible working arrangements, fostering a supportive, inclusive, and compassionate workplace environment. For 2023/24, an investment of £5.75 million is being made in neonatal nurse quality roles, funding at least 98 full-time equivalent posts to support staff retention and learning from incidents, ensuring every trust has funding for this role.