NHSI issues safety alert on dropped babies

NHS Improvement has issued a safety alert on 'The assessment and management of babies who are accidentally dropped in hospital.'

The alert is relevant to all organisations providing NHS-funded inpatient hospital care for babies aged under one year, including on labour wards, postnatal wards, midwifery-led units, paediatric and neonatal units, and mother and baby units in mental health trusts.

This alert provides a resource to support providers to develop or update a tailored local guide on the initial actions to take when a baby has been accidentally dropped.

The resource includes information on how to apply the NICE guidelines and special considerations for newborn babies.

BAPM will be developing a framework for practice to support this alert. The expected publication date is September 2019.