Each Baby Counts, an initiative led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, have recently published their second annual report looking at the number of babies who die or are left severely disabled as a result of incidents occurring during term labour.
The report findings are based on the analysis of data from 2016 and key points include:
- Of nearly 700,000 term babies born in the UK in 2016 the total number of babies that fulfilled the “Each Babies Counts” criteria was 1123. Of these, there were 11% stillbirths, 13% early neonatal deaths and 765 severe brain injuries.
- Of the 955 babies where the review had sufficient information to draw conclusions about the quality of care, the Each Baby Counts reviewers concluded that 674 babies, equating to 71%, might have had a different outcome with different care.
- The main themes identified where improvements could have been made were a failure by health professionals to identify or act upon relevant risk factors, issues related to the monitoring of fetal wellbeing with CTG and blood sampling, and education or training issues.
More details on the findings and recommendations can be found by clicking here.
