A number of NHS trusts are now rated 'red' for baby deaths, with a third of services at risk

Of 121 trusts, 41 – or 34% - were rated “red” for neonatal mortality as of 2022. The new rates* were over 5% higher than peer group average. The new information compares with the 32 trusts that were rated ‘red’ just a year before for neonatal mortality in 2021.

The proportion of trusts with maternity services “red rated” for neonatal mortality has risen from around a quarter in 2021 to a third in 2022, according to the latest national audit. The latest Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk Through Audit and Confidential Enquiries report, published just last week, classifies trusts from red to green, according to how far above or below they are their peer group providers.

There has been a worrying increase in the neonatal mortality rates per 1,000 live births in 2022 compared to 2021. A neonatal death is where a baby unfortunately dies in the first 28 days of life.

Among those “red” rated for neonatal mortality were Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust and University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust, which have both been subject to high-profile investigations into deaths and harm.

In March 2022, the Ockenden review exposed the distressing reality that shortcomings within the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals had contributed to the tragic deaths of over 200 infants and nine mothers who could or would have survived if they had received higher quality care.

The investigations findings exposed deep-rooted issues in these hospitals’ maternity care practices, such as patterns of repeated poor care, staff with false senses of confidence in their ability to manage complex pregnancies and babies diagnosed with fetal abnormalities during pregnancy as well as failures in governance and leadership.

Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals were rated “red” for the second year running and have been rated “orange” previously in 2022. The Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals has acknowledged that its neonatal mortality rate was “too high”.

The number of trusts rated “red” for overall infant mortality rates, which combine performance on neonatal mortality and still births, increased from nine in 2021 to 13 in 2022.

Nisha Sharma, Principal Lawyer in our medical negligence team, recently represented the parents of Abigail Fowler-Miller, a baby girl who died due to failings at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. Unfortunately, Katie and Rob lost their daughter Abigail when she was just two days old, under preventable circumstances.

“Too often, we are meeting mothers and whole families whose lives have been ripped apart by poor standards of care from maternity units across the UK, and the devastating reality is highlighted by this report, which says sub-standard care is all too frequently treated as normal,” says Nisha.

“We cannot stand back and watch more families suffering devastating injury and loss and not do anything about it – I very much hope this report is a catalyst for the action we need, to confront the problems we know exist. What is in here is not new, but we hope by shining a very public spotlight on this, we cannot escape this reality any longer.

“We echo Katie’s calls, and those of many other bereaved parents, for a national inquiry into maternity standards – we need the very public scrutiny an inquiry of that kind would bring, so we can truly understand the scale of this problem and begin to make the wholesale change that is needed.”

NHS England’s chief midwifery officer Kate Brintworth says: “While it is encouraging to see the stillbirth rate continuing to fall, we know much more work is needed to ensure all women and babies receive high-quality care… to tackle the differences in outcomes we are seeing.”

She added previously, there had been £186 million invested in its maternity workforce, appointed the first ever national neonatal clinical director and national neonatal lead nurse, and allocated £45 million to deliver more than 50 extra neonatal cots.