§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many deaths by sudden infant death syndrome were recorded in Wales in each of the years 1980 to 1989; and if he will make a statement as to measures which he proposes to take to reduce the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome in Wales.
§ Mr. GristRecommendations to secure improvements in the quality of care for new-born babies and their mothers, including the establishment of a regional perinatal intensive care service and a regional paediatric pathology service at University hospital of Wales—UHW—Cardiff, were made in the perinatal mortality initiative report in 1986. Subsequently, the Secretary of State decided that an expert advisory group would be set up to consider the operational structure of the proposed regional centre and its relationship to other perinatal services in Wales. That group, chaired by Sir Eric Stroud, professor of child health at Kings College school of medicine and dentistry, produced a report "Perinatal Intensive Care Services in Wales", which was widely distributed to interested authorities and professional bodies in Wales in February this year.
The report makes a number of recommendations for the improvement of services and identifies in detail the manpower and other requirements for the development of the regional centre at UHW which will be associated with a number of regional sub-centres strategically located throughout the Principality.
Action has been put in hand to secure, by central funding, the appointment of a consultant paediatric pathologist for the regional centre at UHW. Pending this appointment part-time consultant sessions are being funded centrally. Funds are also to be made available to South Glamorgan health authority in the coming financial year to secure the services of a consultant neonatologist and a registrar in paediatrics in line with the recommendations of the report. It is also intended to establish, over the coming five-year period, a programme of developments which will lead to the provision of an integrated service of excellence. As the first stage, health authorities have been asked to prepare proposals to achieve a rationalisation of services in relation to the numbers of special care costs and neo-natal intensive care costs which the report considers necessary to meet the needs in those areas.
Available data on deaths of children resident in Wales in the years 1980 to 1989 are given as follows: 29W
Deaths of children in Wales where the term 'Sudden Infant Death' (ICD 798.0) was: Year Mentioned on the death certificate (Column A) Recorded as the underlying cause (Column B)1 1980 75 53 1981 56 59 1982 66 49 1983 65 51 1984 51 45 1985 76 68 1986 74 268 1987 98 290 1988 83 271 1989 67 264 1 Column B included in Column A. 2 The introduction in 1986 of a separate death certificate for the neonatal period, that is within the period 28 days after birth, means that it is not appropriate for the practitioner to assign a single underlying cause to such deaths. These data therefore exclude deaths occurring within the first 28 days after birth.