For your baby to die or to be left with life-altering brain damage after birth is traumatic for any family to go through, which is why we expect our health authority to use all resources necessary to get to the bottom of what happens in each case.
This is the call of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) this week, after branding the NHS’ investigations in these cases ‘inadequate’.
The RCOG spoke out after carrying out a research initiative, the Each Baby Counts inquiry, examining how problems in labour are investigated.
Through the inquiry, the RCOG made a number of alarming discoveries; chiefly that over a quarter of local investigations into labour-related baby deaths are ‘inadequate’.
The research team also found that the majority of parents involved are not being invited to contribute to the reviews and, in some cases, the parents do not even know that they are taking place.
With the final report due for publication in 20167, the RCOG has now called for more detailed reviews to be carried out in cases where babies have either died or suffered serious brain damage. These probes should include external experts as well as the parents of each child.
The aim of the Each Baby Counts initiative is to halve the number of babies who die or are left severely disabled, by 2020.
