§ 2.33 p.m.
Baroness VICKERSMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the tragic fact that in Britain each year 2,000 babies, an average of six a day, aged between one week and two years die suddenly and unexpectedly in their cots, what action is being taken to try to prevent this sad loss by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths and other researchers.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, the Government are concerned about the incidence of cot deaths and the need for more information. In replies to Questions in another place my right honourable friend the Minister of State for Health on 10th May gave details of research his Department is sponsoring, at a cost of over a quarter of a million pounds, aimed at identifying the groups of children most at risk of death and the avoidable medical and social factors. The Department is of course in touch with the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths and is aware of the valuable research and other voluntary work which it sponsors.
Baroness VICKERSMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for that reply. I am sure he realises the tragic circumstances in which these deaths occur. A mother can put her baby looking healthy to bed one night and wake up in the morning to find the baby dead, without 1253 any indication at all of the cause. So what advice is to be given to mothers of newborn babies?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I should like first to say that the Department of Health and Social Security has a three-year programme at Sheffield University to study in detail the circumstances leading up to unexpected deaths in children under the age of two. My Department has also financed, to the tune of a quarter of a million pounds, a three to five year study in five areas in England and Wales aimed at identifying those groups of children, aged from one week to 2 years, most at risk of post-perinatal death. So far as we can tell at the moment, there is no precise cause for cot deaths, although the research which has been done indicates an interconnection of several factors including low birth weight, low socio-economic status, underlying respiratory conditions and bottle feeding. As a result of the studies which have suggested this, my Department, with the Health Education Council, is giving every encouragement to mothers to breast feed their babies for a minimum of two weeks and preferably for the first six months of life.
§ Baroness SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, can the noble Lord tell me whether cuts in advances for maternity services will in any way affect this research?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I am speaking entirely from memory, but I understand that so far as the maternity services are concerned the Personal Health White Paper which we issued referred to our giving an increase of 9 per cent. If I am wrong about that I will write to my noble friend.
Baroness VICKERSMy Lords, will the noble Lord tell us whether any consultations with health visitors have taken place?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, this is so. Consultation with health visitors and general practitioners has been undertaken so that we can give support to bereaved families when this kind of thing happens. Any family that suffers from a death of this kind is being supported, if it wants support.
§ Lord GISBOROUGHMy Lords, can 1254 the noble Lord say whether other countries are suffering from similar kinds of deaths? Is anything known about their experiences, and can the noble Lord say what research is being carried out abroad?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, other countries are experiencing this problem. We are in touch with all medical thought in respect of this matter. I come back to what I said a moment ago, that there is no precise cause known at the present moment, hence the two experiments that are being undertaken.
§ Baroness ELLESMy Lords, will the noble Lord confirm that the United Kingdom has the highest rate of infant mortality of all Western European countries? Can the Department of Health and Social Security he in touch with other departments in Western European States to find out how they deal with this problem?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, the answer is that we are in touch. The fact that it appears that we have more deaths in this country occurs because we have not narrowed the yardstick by which a cot death is measured. We perhaps estimate over-generously.
§ Lord LEATHERLANDMy Lords, is not the greatest cause of these deaths the fact that the babies turn over from their backs to their stomachs and suffocate themselves in their pillows? Would it not be possible to devise a style of pillow which is stiff rather than soft, shaped like the letter E on its side, so as to make it impossible for a child to turn over on to its stomach?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, undoubtedly some children die in that particular fashion. The evidence that we have does not support the assumption that the majority who die do so from that particular cause.
§ Lord SLATERMy Lords, may I ask if it is true that the United Kingdom is well served by health clinics, and young parents are given excellent medical advice at these clinics as to how children ought to be looked after and what actions should be taken?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, 1255 we are grateful to general practitioners and, as I said earlier, health visitors, who are very much aware of the situation, and are giving a great deal of assistance with this particular problem.