SANDS calls for action on Scottish stillbirths
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 5:49 am
The charity Sands reports that about 500 babies die each year after birth or are stillbirths in Scotland, but that many of these deaths could have been prevented if care were better in neonatal units or if they were not quite as stretched.
Sands are asking the Scottish Parliament to provide additional funds for neonatal research funding and better care in neonatal units including full staffing. According to the charity, the UK needs to recognize that death in the neonatal wards is a large health issue that needs serious attention.
In Scotland last year there were 325 stillborn babies; which is ten times more than the cot death rate, and according to Sands the number has stayed steady for the last thirty years without improvement.
Moreover, an additional 168 babies died in their first month of life after birth making Scotland home of one of the highest infant death rates across Europe. In order to combat the problem Sands claims that the Scottish government needs to work on a national strategy.
Chief executive of Sands, Neal Long, said that the infant deaths are a tragedy of national proportions and that the deaths of infants have been ignored for too long by the Scottish government.
He continued to say that there is enough concrete evidence that shows with a little more research and better neonatal services many of the deaths could have been prevented.
Long also commented that Scotland improve the situation around if Parliament and care makers had better communication about decision making and if the services were better organized.
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