Babies in Midlands and North 'more likely to die around birth'

"Babies in the Midlands and North of England are more likely to die before, during or shortly after birth than those in the South, a new study has found. Researchers analysed data from 121 maternity services in England to see which centres repeatedly produced outcomes better or worse than the average between 2013 and 2022. The 10 worst-performing centres were in the Midlands and North of England, and the 15 best-performing in the South."

"It found that three of the 121 Trusts that report figures - Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust had a higher-than-average rate of death in each of the 10 years it looked at, compared to services of comparable size. Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, currently the subject of an ongoing police investigation, had worse-than-average rates in nine of the 10 years."

Analysis of 121 maternity services in England between 2013 and 2022 shows persistent variation in late fetal loss, stillbirth and neonatal death rates across trusts. Ten worst-performing centres were concentrated in the Midlands and North, while fifteen best-performing centres were in the South. Three trusts—Sandwell and West Birmingham, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Royal Devon University Healthcare—had higher-than-average mortality in each year of the decade. Shrewsbury and Telford had worse-than-average rates in nine of ten years. Three trusts—Norfolk and Norwich, Royal Free London and UCLH—had consistently lower-than-average rates. Figures were adjusted for deprivation, ethnicity and gestational age.

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