Following the publication today (9 December) of Baroness Amos’ Reflections and Initial Impressions report from the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, we continue to have significant questions about how well neonatal services are being considered within the investigation, and how much the care of babies in neonatal care is under review.
Bliss welcomes the reference to the importance of “the need for neonatal unit accommodation and transition[al] care”, however overall we remain concerned at the absence of detail about neonatal services, in an investigation which has consistently been framed as a means of driving improvements across both maternity and neonatal services.
Caroline Lee-Davey, Bliss Chief Executive said: “Baroness Amos’ initial report identifies a series of important insights across maternity services, however there is little mention of any detail from the neonatal side of the review, or on the care of babies and the experiences of their families in neonatal care. While we welcome the recognition of the importance of neonatal accommodation for parents, and of neonatal transitional care, there is much more that we would expect to see in the final report which specifically addresses issues in neonatal care.
“There is clear data to show unacceptable variation in neonatal mortality and outcomes for babies across the country, as well as significant disparities between ethnic and socioeconomic groups that have increased in recent years. We urge Baroness Amos and her team to pay sufficient attention to issues in neonatal services specifically, alongside those in maternity care, as the investigation progresses over the coming months, including ensuring that the call for evidence asks questions which are appropriate for neonatal families to share their experiences in full.
“Bliss stands ready to support this work to ensure that every baby born premature or sick has the best chance of survival and quality of life, and that longstanding inequalities in outcomes for these babies are addressed.”
