600 stillbirths could be prevented a year if maternity units follow NHS guidelines

NHS England has warned that 600 babies could be saved from stillbirth each year if hospitals monitored them properly throughout pregnancy.

Recent research has shown that stillbirths fell by a fifth at the maternity units who had implemented the new national guidance, Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle. This guidance is aimed at informing women about the impact of cigarette smoking, about reduced foetal movements, detecting small babies and improving the monitoring of babies during labour.

Matthew Jolly, the national clinical director for maternity and women’s health at NHS England, said the findings revealed “significant progress” in efforts to cut stillbirth numbers.

Statistics have shown that there are currently around 665,000 babies born in England a year but approximately one in every 200 babies are born stillborn. If this guidance is followed correctly, that figure can be reduced by 600 stillbirths a year. Maternity units that have been following the guidelines have found a 59% increase in the detection of small babies, as well as mothers who have been able to identify themselves when their babies had stopped moving as regularly indicating that there might be something wrong.

Kate Smith, Solicitor in the Medical Negligence team at Ashtons Legal, comments: “Losing a child is one of the most, if not the most devastating experience a family could go through, so the introduction of new guidance to help reduce the numbers of stillbirths is welcome. Implementation of guidance can be difficult but if adhered to, as shown by the recent results from the hospitals who have been using it, there can be really promising reductions to the numbers of stillbirths, and maybe this will achieve the Governments mission to halve the numbers of stillbirths by 2025”.