Cuts put sickest babies at risk, says charity

National standards state that 70 per cent of a neonatal unit’s nursery and midwifery workforce should be qualified in specialist neonatal care.

Last year charity Bliss reported that 1,150 extra nurses were needed to meet these targets but it said recent research found 140 posts had been cut in this area.

One in 10 neonatal units told the charity that training and education budgets had been cut and they struggled to release nurses for training due to a lack of staff to cover shifts.

Bliss chief executive Andy Cole said: “The government’s assurances that frontline services would not be affected by changes in the NHS is not true for these most vulnerable patients.

“The government and NHS must take responsibility now and ensure our tiniest and sickest babies receive the highest standard of care at this critical time in their lives.”

It is deeply shocking that at a time when extra nurses are needed to meet even the most basic standards of neonatal care, some trusts are making reckless cuts. Janet Davies, Royal College of Nursing

Janet Davies, executive director of nursing at the Royal College of Nursing, said: “It is deeply shocking that at a time when extra nurses are needed to meet even the most basic standards of neonatal care, some (NHS) trusts are making reckless cuts to posts, which will undoubtedly have an impact on the care of premature and sick babies.

“Sadly, this is a reflection on what is happening throughout the NHS, where we know that 40,000 posts are earmarked to be lost.”

Neonatal mortality rates falling

Health Minister Anne Milton, said: “We want to make sure that sick and premature babies to get consistently high quality neonatal care. NHS hospitals in England must ensure that they have the right number of qualified staff to provide this.

“The death of any child is a tragedy and although it is encouraging that neonatal mortality rates continue to fall there is still more to do.

“Our modernisation plans will cut the costs of administration by one-third over this Parliament, and every penny will be reinvested into frontline services to improve quality for patients.”

The Bliss findings came from Freedom of Information requests sent to all neonatal units in England, which had a 92 per cent response rate.