§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Ormskirk, 10 July, Official Report, c. 244, he will specify the active steps the regional and area health authorities have taken to identify changes in services likely to lead to reduction in perinatal mortality in St. Helens and Knowsley; and if he will detail the appropriate improvements that have been made in the service.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg:I regret that the information given in the earlier reply to the hon. Member contained some confusion of terminology between infant and perinatal mortality. The accurate information on both rates is as follows:
1976 1977 1978 1979 *1980 Perinatal Mortality St. Helens and Knowsley 20.5 22.0 15.8 20.4 13.3 England 17.6 16.9 15.4 14.6 13.3 Infant Mortality St. Helens and Knowsley 13.7 20.1 12.4 15.7 12.9 England 142 13.7 13.1 12.8 12.0 * Provisional.To improve the situation, St. Helens and Knowsley AHA have intensified their campaign to encourage expectant women to make full use of antenatal services and to stop smoking during pregnancy; additional highly specialised equipment has been purchased for the special care baby unit at Whiston hospital; a further consultant paediatrician post has been established and they have increased the numbers of junior medical staff. Mersey regional health authority has also allocated extra funds totalling £78,000 to schemes which, although not located within the St. Helens and Knowsley area, will benefit St. Helens and Knowsley residents. It has increased the numbers of nursing staff at the Fazakerley maternity unit, which many Knowsley residents attend, and established a central unit at the Liverpool maternity hospital, serving the whole region, to provide longer-term specialised intensive care to babies than is available in more local units.