Three babies a day have to be transferred to other hospitals, some over 120 miles away. Most shockingly, almost all neonatal staff involved in the reports put down 'a lack of nursing staff ' as the main cause.
Worryingly, half of all special care units were forced to accept intensive care babies due to these shortages in capacity. This is even higher than last year, when 40% of special care units were caring for intensive care babies. Although special care units will have intensive care equipment for 'emergencies ', because they are lower dependency unit, they should not be providing extended care for intensive care babies as they lack the expertise required to care for such vulnerable infants.
Only 3 out of every hundred units in the country are operating at the recommended standard of one nurse to one baby in intensive care. This recommended standard is extremely important as studies show a direct correlation between an increase in the number of babies being cared for in neonatal units and infant mortality rates.
Mortality rates are a commonly used indicator to show how effective mother and baby care is in the UK health service. Of the total number of babies that died before their first birthday, two thirds died because they were born prematurely.
Rob Williams, Chief Executive of BLISS said
"This is an issue of patient safety and it is unacceptable that a life saving service is unable to provide the appropriate level of care for vulnerable babies because of financial constraints. The most pressing need is for central government to commit to the recommended nursing standards of one nurse looking after one baby in intensive care. It is therefore vital to implement this standard to boost nursing numbers."
BLISS, the premature baby charity, is dedicated to making sure more babies born prematurely or sick in the UK survive and that each one has the best quality of life.
Read the Bliss report and study of neonatal care in the UK
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