STILLBIRTH and newborn baby death rates at Bradford Royal Infirmary have been highlighted as a matter of concern in a national report.

MBBRACE-UK, a group of academics, charities and institutes that investigates maternity deaths has identified Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as having a stillbirth and newborn baby death rate within the first 28 days of life of 8.2 per every 1,000 births, a figure it says is more than ten per cent higher than the average of other trusts of a similar size and level of specialist neonatal care.

Bradford is one of 21 hospital trusts across the country identified by the group as having concerning levels of infant mortality rates.

But the trust's medical director, Dr Bryan Gill, said direct comparisons across different trusts need to be treated with caution and a robust action plan was introduced 18 months ago to help spare future parents the heartache of losing a baby.

BRADFORD BABY DEATH RATE STILL CAUSE FOR CONCERN

That includes offering vitamins to all pregnant women, running a dedicated clinic for obese pregnant women, helping mums-to-be to stop smoking, raising awareness of the importance of detecting and reporting reduced fetal movements and improving quality of care for women with hypertension and diabetes.

All women are also encouraged to book with maternity services before 13 weeks of pregnancy and the trust will investigate when anything goes wrong to learning lessons for the future.

MBBRACE-UK has recommended that Bradford and 20 other hospital trusts identified as having high baby death rates should carry out reviews into establishing the reasons why.

But Dr Gill said there were many risk factors including poverty, the mother's age and ethnicity but there were other contributing factors specific to Bradford such as mother's weight, smoking habits, diabetes and congenital anomaly.

"These are all areas in which Bradford experiences higher than national average rates and which play a significant contributing factor to our perinatal mortality rates," he said.

Dr Gill added: “Over the past 18 months we have introduced a comprehensive action plan jointly owned by Bradford Teaching Hospitals and our commissioners and is supported by the Strategic Network for Women and Children’s Services for the Yorkshire and Humber region.

"As a hospital, our responsibility is to monitor and intervene for the health of both mum and baby and we conduct in-depth investigations into each perinatal death, in the hope that future parents can be spared the heartache of losing a baby.”

Bradford Council's public health unit has also been working closely with the trust on the action plan to improve mums and babies' health including encouraging all expectant mums to quit smoking.

Councillor Vanda Greenwood, chairman of Bradford Council's health and social care overview committee, said: "This report demonstrates the need for all relevant partners in Bradford district to work together to deliver the best maternity care and support for mums-to-be, and also shows the importance of helping all the residents of Bradford to live healthier lives and, wherever, possible, to quit smoking during pregnancy."