Concerns Over Number Of Stillbirths

More needs to be done to help prevent vulnerable women having stillbirths.

A new report shows that the number of fetal deaths in the UK is still higher than other European countries.

In 2013, there were 3,286 stillbirths and 1,436 neonatal deaths, that's the equivalent of 6 per 1,000 births.

The report also claims that where a woman lives in the country could mean they're more at risk of having a stillbirth.

It found that pregnancies to women living in socially deprived areas are over 50% more likely to end in stillbirth or neonatal death.

Maggie Simkiss set up the Hull SANDS support charity after her son died at 9 days old.

She says it's a life-changing experience for any parent to go through and told Viking FM:

"Nothing I've ever been through has been as traumatic, whatever you do you consequently think things like, I would have bought a 4-bedroom house or booking an extra place on a holiday and thinking my son would have been going to school this year. Keiran would have been 23 now so he would have been a grown man but I've gone through all of those milestones and missed every one.

"It's not like a normal bereavement where you're lamenting the past, you're lamenting what might have been and it's your future as a parent so there's all things about guilt and thinking if you did anything wrong. You constantly question things and it's not just mums but dads too and we do have a lot of fathers that come to our groups."

Maggie says it's a particular problem in the Hull area:

"Hull tends to be one of the highest areas in the country for stillbirths. Our socio economic group is very mixed and we do have a high immigrant population and that's definitelty reflected in some of the figures.

"It's always been a concern for me that Hull has such a high rate. There could be twice as many befrienders at our support group and we still wouldn't have enough to cover all the people we do support over the year. But these babies die and very, very rarely is brought to anyone's attention."

Commenting on the report, Professor Alan Cameron, RCOG Vice President for Clinical Quality said:

“The findings of the report show an overall improvement in the rates of stillbirth and neonatal deaths in the context of the increasing medical complexity of the maternal population. However, it is clear that we still face a challenge of further reducing the number of perinatal deaths, as well as addressing the existing variation of mortality rates across the UK.

“We fully support the report’s recommendations, both investment in data provision and monitoring as well as setting national aspirational targets are vital and we will continue to work closely with MBRRACE-UK and other colleagues to make the UK one of the safest places to be born. "