Sick newborns forced to travel for vital care

Published on Wednesday 3 March 2010 20:44

NEWBORN babies and expectant mothers in Scotland are being transferred hundreds of miles from their homes to receive vital care, according to a charity.

Bliss, the charity for sick and premature babies, said more than 1,500 babies in Scotland a year were subject to "inappropriate" transfers to distant hospitals because of a lack of facilities or staffing at local wards.

In addition, it estimates that about 1,000 women a year are transferred to another hospital immediately before giving birth.

Mothers have spoken of being faced with being transferred south of the Border or even to Northern Ireland by ambulance just as they were going into premature labour.

The charity's report says many of the transfers happened because services were overstretched rather than out of medical need. It also said a "severe shortage" of neonatal nurses meant babies were often not receiving the one-to-one care experienced by older children and adults.

Bliss chief executive Andy Cole said: "The recent focus special care baby services have received in Scotland is very welcome, but there is still a long way to go.

"The issue of inappropriate transfers is whether, when a baby has to be moved from one hospital to another, it's to what would be considered the correct one. If a child in born in Elgin, it should be Inverness or Aberdeen, not Glasgow or Edinburgh."

Mr Cole said the Scottish Neonatal Transfer Service was working at 150 per cent of its capacity, a situation he said was unlikely to improve in the near future with an increase in the birth rate and the number of premature births.

Scotland has the highest premature birth rate in the UK, with 7.3 per cent of all babies born before 37 weeks gestation. About 8,000 babies are born sick or premature in Scotland every year.

Bliss published the briefing as part of its 30th birthday report "Three decades and counting".

It highlighted new research into the social impact of transfers on families, which found that more than half of women transferred felt socially isolated at the destination hospital. A third reported financial difficulties relating to transfer, while a fifth said it had caused family difficulties.

There has been a 16 per cent rise in the number of babies transferred since 2004 and demand is likely to increase in coming years by an estimated 100 transfers each year, the briefing said.

The report also said a severe shortage of specialist nurses and doctors trained in neonatal care meant babies were not getting one-to-one nursing care.

It called on the Scottish Government to introduce neonatal networks to end the inappropriate transfer of mothers and babies, and to provide neonatal care in compliance with British Association for Perinatal Medicine standards. It also said the Scottish Neonatal Transfer Service must be properly resourced.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Mothers should be able to deliver their babies at their local hospital wherever possible, but because neonatal care is a very highly specialised area and because of its unpredictability, this cannot always be the case.

"We understand that transfers can be distressing for families, but unfortunately they are sometimes necessary to ensure mothers and babies get the care they need."

She said the government was looking at the viability of creating a national service to help maternity units transferring children.

The government has funded the training of 20 advanced neonatal nurse practitioners and is investing a further 160,000 in neonatal training this year.

Fear over travel added to trauma of labour

FOR Lynne Marshall, 33, giving birth to twins Murray and Jack in 2006 proved to be traumatic.

She went into labour at just 24 weeks, resulting in her being taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary from her home in Dalkeith.

She spent three days in the labour suite as there was no room in the ERI's intensive care unit and was "advised that we might be taken to Glasgow, Dundee, Newcastle or possibly by air ambulance to Northern Ireland.

"I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I was about to give birth prematurely, and so I was horrified at the thought of giving birth so far from home."

At the last moment, two beds were freed up for the twins and Ms Marshall was able to give birth at the ERI. The twins spent 15 weeks in hospital, during which time Ms Marshall, 33, and her partner saw the difficulties staff had to contend with.

"The children received one-to-one care, though they couldn't receive it all the time, the hospital just didn't have the staff. But the staff were fantastic," she said.