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Issue

Issue - meetings

INFANT MORTALITY STRATEGY

Meeting: 10/10/2016 - Health and Wellbeing Board (Item 30)

30 INFANT MORTALITY STRATEGY pdf icon PDF 89 KB

Clare Mills, Lead Commissioner (Healthy Child Programme), Public Health and Nicola Bassindale, Service Manager (Strategy, Quality & Performance), Education & Children’s Services to present a report outlining the new strategy to reduce infant mortality in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.   The Board is requested to approve the recommendations in the report.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Clare Mills, Lead Commissioner (Healthy Child Programme), Public Health and Nicola Bassindale, Service Manager (Strategy, Quality & Performance), Education & Children’s Services presented a report outlining the new strategy to reduce infant mortality in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

 

It was noted that the strategy would run from 2016 to 2019 with an associated action log that recorded current and planned actions across a range of risk factors.  Progress would be monitored by the LLR Infant Mortality Strategy Group (IMSG) with scrutiny and oversight by the Maternity Services Liaison Committee (MSCL).

 

The IMSG had identified a number of issues and would meet quarterly to review the progress on the action log and to consider a key issue.  The City had higher rates of infant mortality and stillbirths than regional and national rates but was comparable with the comparator group.  However, the numbers involved were small and the contributing factors were complex; involving issues such as smoking during pregnancy, maternal obesity, poverty, substance misuse, language barriers and late access to the maternity pathways.

 

During discussion on the strategy the following comments and observations were made:-

  

a)         The second sentence in Issue 2.3 of the Action Log should read Mothers from Asian or Asian British ethnic groups are reported to have smaller babies.

 

b)         The Young People’s Council should be involved in engaging with young mothers.

 

c)         GPs had an important role to play in the process but were not identified within the Action Log.  Information should be shared across the whole health system and all involved should be clear about what was expected of them.

 

d)         There were no primary care representatives on the steering group but midwives were involved.

 

e)         There were difficulties in breaking figures down into ethnicity in view of the low numbers involved, as this could potentially identify specific families and well as become statistically unreliable.

 

The Chair commented that the Board endorsed the general strategy and commented that the quality of information given to parents was inconsistent and there could be a more integrated approach.

 

AGREED:

 

That the Board supported the actions and recommendations in the report and the Chair would consider whether the Board would be the appropriate place to receive updates on the progress made with the strategy in the future.