Helen helps launch landmark report from UK baby loss charities

Helen Morgan MP is backing leading charities in their call for urgent, meaningful action to save babies’ lives after the launch of a landmark report this week.

The Saving Babies’ Lives Progress Report pulls together data from different sources to make clear that too many families continue to suffer the heartbreak of losing a baby.

Helen Morgan, the co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Saving Baby’s Lives, attended the launch of the report on Monday (15 May) in Westminster. She heard first-hand about a concerning picture with progress stalling to reduce the number of babies that die and there is a risk of going backwards.

Progress to reduce rates of baby death is slowing or reversing and parents’ experiences of care are deteriorating despite numerous warnings in the wake of the scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said, “Too many people have already been affected by avoidable baby loss, including many families here in Shropshire, and I am committed to making sure more is done to save babies lives.

“This new report makes clear that not enough progress is being made to reduce rates of pregnancy loss and baby death and there are worrying signs that rates are now heading in the wrong direction.

“Improving maternity services both in Shropshire and across the country must be a key feature of the Government’s health agenda.”

In England the Government’s target to halve the number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths by 2025 is not on track. There is no current target or ambition for reducing baby deaths in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. 

The Saving Babies Lives report also highlights that despite Government commitments to act on the findings of recent reviews of maternity services, such as the Ockenden Review into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, this still hasn’t led to the fundamental change needed to save more babies’ lives.

Annually in the UK over 5,000 babies are stillborn or die within the first four weeks of life. It is estimated around 1 in 6 pregnancies end in miscarriage, however this is very likely to be an underestimate as comprehensive data on miscarriage are not reported.

There has also been little progress on reducing the proportion of babies born preterm, which is an important risk factor for pregnancy loss and baby deaths. Around 50,000 babies are born prematurely each year and in 2020, almost three-quarters of neonatal deaths in the UK were among babies born prematurely.