IT is a cause for concern that stillbirth and newborn baby death rates at Bradford Royal Infirmary have been flagged up in a new report as being higher than the national average.

MBBRACE-UK, which is made up of academics, charities and institutes that investigate 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.

The group says that figure puts it more than ten per cent above the national average of trusts of a similar size and level of specialist neonatal care.

BRADFORD'S STILLBIRTH AND NEWBORN BABY DEATH RATES HIGHLIGHTED AS CAUSE FOR CONCERN

This issue has been a problem for the district for many years, and a lot of research, including the Born In Bradford project, has been carried out to try and help tackle it.

However, the Trust rightly makes the point that this latest report making direct comparisons across different trusts need to be treated with caution.

Medical director Bryan Gill says it has introduced a comprehensive action plan over the past 18 months as part of a strategy to deal with the higher than average rates in some parts of the district.

What is disappointing though is that, whatever the concerns about these particular figures, it does seem that the district still has an issue with maternity deaths.

There are obviously some specific circumstances that do cause difficulties in the district, but it would be hoped that after all the years of research, we would have a better idea of how to improve this situation.