Britain struggles to compare favourably with its European counterparts as maternal and infant mortality rates continue to cause concern.
Our child mortality rate is over 60 per cent higher than Sweden, the best performing European nation. There, fewer than 30 children die per 100,000 compared with over 47 per 100,000 in the UK.
The research, conducted by the NHS Foundation Trust at Evelina London Children’s Hospital in London, attacked Britain’s healthcare system, which they said, does not meet ‘children’s healthcare needs’.
The research found that UK children are more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses – such as pneumonia, asthma, diabetes and behavioural difficulties. Yes the infectious diseases that caused death and suffering a generation ago have been tackled effectively, but today children are particularly vulnerable to avoidable illness.
The report, published in July, led to Ministerial calls for immediate action and improvement in the number of specialist consultants treating the critically ill.
A letter signed by Dr Dan Poulter, a health minister, Dr Hilary Cass, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and four experts in child health, was sent to all local authorities. It urged bold action to tackle failings in many parts of the country.
It warned: “You will be as shocked as we are that childhood mortality in this country is among the worst in Europe. You will also want to know how poor many outcomes are for children and young people with long-term physical and mental conditions as well as those who are acutely sick.”
Other research has highlighted this neglected national scandal. This summer the charity Save the Children reported that the UK’s levels of maternal and infant mortality are higher than in many other Western nations.
The charity found that Britain was a worse place to be a mother then Germany, France, and Ireland with the UK now ranked 23rd in the annual Mothers Index. Yes we were ranked higher than the USA who were 30th but the index revealed that the UK had fallen 13 places from 10th in a single year, a decline partly attributed to Coalition Government cuts in health and welfare, and changes in GP organisation. Women whose partners are jobless are 6 times more likely to die from maternal causes than women whose partners are in work. The UK had fallen behind impoverished Spain who sat 7th, and bankrupt Greece who sat 19th.
Save the Children found that the number of babies dying within 24 hours of being born are 1.4 per 1,000, a higher rate than in Hungary, Malta or Ireland. It also found that a British mother had a 1 in 4,600 risk of dying in childbirth, higher than in Macedonia and Poland.
Explanations include Government cuts and the relatively large proportion of both younger and older mothers due to relatively larger teenage and IVF pregnancy rates in the UK.
Of course the UK is still a relatively a good place to be a mother and have children. In the developing world, and across Africa, a baby is 7 times more likely to die on its first day of life than one born in the West.
However, these latest UK findings, are a cause for concern, especially as the impact of austerity has yet to fully impact on maternal and infant welfare.
Further research this summer reported that 1 in 46 of babies born in England and Wales had a birth defect. Neural tube defects such as spina bifida are far more common here than in other European countries according to the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers (BINCA). They estimate that in 2011 there were 15,966 babies suffering defects, 2.2 per cent of the babies born. BINCA’s findings are likely to be an underestimate since not all NHS Trusts monitor, a neglect which means that causes will not be investigated.
These research findings should raise concerns about our healthcare system, and remind all of us to be vigilant to ensure that health care in the UK for mothers and infants is steadfastly supported and improved.
The views expressed in this post, as in all posts on Society Matters, are the views of the author, not The Open University.
Cartoon by Gary Edwards