No money provided for additional baby healthcare
Filed under: Baby public health — Alan @ 8:32 am
In an attempt to improve health services in England a new set of standards for the care of sick babies has been published.
Two years ago the National Audit Office criticized specialist baby care, prompting the response by ministers that hospitals need better transport services, and to start providing one on one nursing care for babies.
However, now two years later doctors and campaigners for the cause are starting to raise concerns, due to the fact that there has not been any money provided for the service.
Every year about one in ten births results in a baby that needs treatment in neonatal units. This is due to the fact that women are waiting longer to have children, fertility treatment is causing multiple births, and more premature babies are surviving preterm birth.
This has prompted the Department of Health to recommend one to one nursing care for babies in intensive care units and other new standards for special infant care units. However, intensive care units are not able to reach these standards due to a lack of funding.
In terms of transport teams, only half of the hospitals in the UK have transport teams that are operational around the clock every day.
The government has stated that it would like all hospitals to reach the standard, but yet funding has not yet been provided to make the standards a reality.
Health Minister Anne Keen stated that the standards would help impact the health of young children, but stated that there is no money in the budget to help increase hospital staffing.
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