MBRRACE-UK publishes perinatal report

According to the newly-published third Perinatal Confidential Enquiry report issued by the MBRRACE-UK collaboration, stillbirth and neonatal deaths have more than halved in the UK from 0.62 to 0.28 per 1,000 total births since 1993, representing a fall of around 220 intrapartum deaths per year.

Led by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, the report looked at the quality of care for stillbirths and neonatal deaths of babies born at term, who were alive at the onset of labour and who were not affected by a major congenital anomaly.

The analysis aimed to identify potentially avoidable failures of care during labour, birth and any resuscitation, which may have led to the death.

A key finding was that in over a quarter of the cases capacity issues were a problem. The majority of staffing and capacity problems were related to the delivery suite with the remaining issues relating to neonatal care provision. Heavy workload contributed to delays in induction in one third of women being induced.

In 80% of the stillbirths and neonatal deaths analysed, improvements in care were identified that may have made a difference to the outcome of the baby.

Another finding was that overall the quality of bereavement care was variable, with a lack of joint midwifery, obstetric and neonatal input.

The full report is available at www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports