7th April 2005
Baby Death Investigation “Long
Overdue” – McNeil
MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan
McNeil, has said that NHS Argyll and Clyde’s eventual agreement to investigate
thoroughly the unacceptably high levels of baby and infant deaths is “long
overdue.”
Dr
Gillian Penney, Medical Director of the Scottish Stillbirth and Infant Death
Survey, has been drafted in to carry out a special, detailed review of perinatal
deaths in the area during 2004. This
is in addition to the clinical review which is routinely undertaken of all
perinatal deaths in Scotland.
However,
Mr McNeil warned that Dr Penney’s investigations must examine the figures for
Inverclyde specifically. Simply
looking at the Health Board area as a whole would, he said, “completely miss
the point”.
“I
have been asking the Health Board for some time to show that their re-organisation
of services has actually improved patient care,” Mr McNeil said today.
“Indeed, last September, I asked the Board whether, in the year since
our maternity and paediatric services were centralised, the number of women from
Greenock and Inverclyde giving birth to still-born babies had risen or fallen.
“At
the time I received a less than illuminating response, so I am glad that the
issue is finally going to be thoroughly investigated.
It is, though, long overdue. And
it’s a shame that, despite my representations to the Board, despite my
quizzing of the Minister, we had to wait until the publication of these alarming
figures before action was taken.”
The
latest figures from the Registrar General – published in the
Preliminary Annual Return 2004 – revealed that Inverclyde has the highest rate
of stillbirths and perinatal deaths in Scotland.
It was also confirmed that rates of neonatal and infant deaths are now
between double and two and a half times the national average.
Mr
McNeil continued:
“It
is vital that this investigation does not simply look at Argyll and Clyde as a
whole. The most worrying figures
are in Inverclyde and not to examine what is going on here in detail would
completely miss the point.”
Mr
McNeil has also tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament, demanding that the
Scottish Executive and NHS Argyll and Clyde investigate and address the reasons
behind these mortality rates.
ENDS
Baby and Infant Mortality in Inverclyde:
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