§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many special care units for the newborn there 213W are in each health district; how many are planned for 1978; and where they are to be located;
(2) how many intensive care units for the newborn there are in each health district; how many new units are planned for 1978; and where they are to be located.
§ Mr. MoyleCircular HC(76)40 suggested that there should be a two-tier system of provision:
- (i) special care units associated with maternity and children's departments of district general hospitals, and
- (ii) combined special and intensive care units which, as well as providing special care, would look after the small proportion of babies whose healthy survival depends on highly specialised techniques. It was envisaged that
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Number of Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs) Combined Special and Intensive Care Units (combined S and ICUs) Units Planned for 1978 SCBUs Combined S and ICUs (1) (2) (3) (4) Northern Regional HealthAuthority Neonatal Intensive therapy units—2 in Newcastle. None None Hartlepool 1 North Tees 1 South Tees 1 East Cumbria 2 South West Cumbria 1 West Cumbria 2 Darlington 1 Durham 1 North West Durham 1 South West Durham 1 Northumberland 2 Gateshead 2 Newcastle upon Tyne 2 North Tyneside 1 South Tyneside 1 Sunderland 2 Yorkshire Regional Health Authority None None St. James's Hospital, Leeds Hull 1 Beverley 2 Grimsby 1 Scunthorpe 2 Northallerton 1 York 1 Scarborough 1 Harrogate 1 Bradford 2 Airedale 1 Calderdale 1 Huddersfield 1 Dewsbury 1 Western Leeds 2 Eastern Leeds 2 Western Wakefield 1 Eastern Wakefield 1 Trent Regional Health Authority Nottingham City Hospital None None Central Derbyshire 1 North Derbyshire 1 South Derbyshire — East Leicestershire 2 North West Leicestershire — South West Leicestershire 1 there would probably be only one or two of the latter type of unit in each region.
A degree of intensive care can be provided in special care baby units but the degree of care possible will vary from unit to unit, as will the number of cots designated for that purpose at any one time.
The tables show:
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- Column 1: the number of special care baby units in each district at 31st December 1976.
- Column 2: the location of combined special and intensive care units in each region Information supplied by regions, March 1977.
- Column 3: number and location of new special care baby units planned for 1978 in each region.
- Column 4: number and location of new combined special and intensive care units planned for 1978 in each region.
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Units Planned for 1978 Number of Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs) Combined Special and Intensive Care Units (combined S and ICUs) SCBUs Combined S and ICUs (1) (2) (3) (4) Lincolnshire South 2 Lincolnshire North 1 Mansfield and Newark 1 Worksop and Retford 1 North Nottingham 1 South Nottingham 2 Barnsley 1 Doncaster 1 Rotherham 1 Northern Sheffield 1 Central Sheffield 1 Southern Sheffield 1 East Anglia Regional Health Authority Mill Road Maternity Hospital, Cambridge None None Cambridge 1 Peterborough 2 Norwich 1 Great Yarmouth and Waveney 1 King's Lynn 2 Bury St. Edmunds 1 Ipswich 1 North West Thames Regional Health Authority None Westminster Hospital None Northern Bedfordshire 1 Southern Bedfordshire 1 Area Management — North Hertfordshire 1 East Hertfordshire 1 North West Hertfordshire 2 South West Hertfordshire 1 Area Management — Barnet/Finchley 1 Edgware/Hendon 1 Brent 1 Harrow 1 Area Management — Hounslow 1 South Hammersmith 1 North Hammersmith 1 Ealing 1 Hillingdon 1 North West Kensington/Chelsea/Westminster 2 North East Kensington/Chelsea/Westminster — South Kensington/Chelsea/Westminster 1 North East Thames Regional Health Authority 1. University College Hospital None None Basildon and Thurrock 2 2. London Hospital, Chelmsford 1 Whitechapel Colchester 1 Harlow 2 Southend 1 Barkins 1 Havering 1 North Camden 1 South Camden 1 Islington 2 City and Hackney 2 Newham 2 Tower Hamlets 2 Enfield 1 Haringey 2 East Roding 1 West Roding 1
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Number of Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs) Combined Special and Intensive Care Units (combined S and ICUs) Units Planned for 1978 SCBUs Combined S and ICUs (1) (2) (3) (4) South East Thames Regional Health Authority King's College Hospital None None Brighton 1 Eastbourne 2 Hastings 1 South East Kent 2 Canterbury/Thanet 2 Dartford/Gravesham 2 Maidstone 1 Medway 2 Tunbridge Wells 1 Bexley 2 Greenwich 2 Bromley 3 St. Thomas 2 Kings 1 Guy's 1 Lewisham 1 South West Thames Regional Health Authority None None None North Surrey — North West Surrey 1 West Surrey and North East Hants 1 South West Surrey 1 Mid-Surrey 1 East Surrey 1 Chichester 1 Cuckfield and Crawley 2 Worthing 1 Croydon 1 Kingston/Richmond 1 Roehampton — Wandsworth and East Merlon 2 Sutton and West Merton 2 Wessex Regional Health Authority None None None East Dorset 2 West Dorset 1 Portsmouth and South East Hants 1 Southampton and South West Hants 1 Winchester 1 Basingstoke and North Hants 1 Salisbury 1 Swindon 1 Bath 3 Isle of Wight 1 Oxford Regional Health Authority 1. Kettering General Hospital None None Regional Management — East Berkshire 3 2. Radcliffe Infirmary West Berkshire 1 Oxford Aylesbury 1 High Wycombe 2 Kettering 1 Northampton 1 Oxfordshire 2 South Western Regional Health Authority No combined unit designated but the following units are regarded by the Region as capable of providing whatever degree of intensive care is required: None None Bristol 1 Frenchay — Southmead 1 Weston — Cornwall 1 1. Bristol Maternity Hospital Exeter and Mid-Devon 1 North Devon 1 2. Southmead Hospital Plymouth 1 3. Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro Torbay 2 220W221W
Number of Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs) Combined Special and Intensive Care Units (combined S and ICUs) Units Planned for 1978 SCBUs Combined S and ICUs (1) (2) (3) (4) Cheltenham 1 4. Royal Devon and Gloucester 1 Exeter Hospital, Exeter West Somerset 1 5. Plymouth General East Somerset 1 Hospital 6. Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester 7. Taunton and Somerset Hospital, Taunton West Midlands Regional Health Authority None 1. Manor Hospital, Walsall None Hereford 1 Bromsgrove and Redditch 1 2. Wordsley Hospital, Dudley Kidderminster — Worcester 1 Salop 1 Mid Staffordshire — North Staffordshire 1 South East Staffordshire 1 North Warwickshire 1 Rugby 1 South Warwickshire 2 Central Birmingham 1 East Birmingham — North Birmingham 1 South Birmingham 2 West Birmingham 2 Coventry 1 Dudley 1 Sandwell 1 Solihull 2 Walsall 1 Wolverhampton 1 Mersey Regional Health Authority 1. Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool None None Chester 1 Crewe 1 2. Liverpool Maternity Hospital Halton — Macclesfield 1 Warrington 1 Central Southern Liverpool 2 Eastern Liverpool 2 Area Management — St. Helens with Knowsley 1 Northern Sefton 1 Southern Sefton 1 Northern Wirral 3 Southern Wirral 1 North Western Regional Health Authority St. Marys Hospital, Manchester None None Lancaster 2 Blackpool 1 Preston 2 Blackburn 1 Burnley 1 Ormskirk and Skelmersdale 1 Bolton 1 Bury 1 North Manchester 1 Central Manchester 1 South Manchester 2 Oldham 1 Rochdale 1 Salford 1 Stockport 1 Tameside 1 Trafford 1 Wigan 1
Number of Special Care Baby Units (SCBUs) Combined Special and Intensive Care Units (combined S and ICUs) Units Planned for 1978 SCBUs Combined S and ICUs (1) (2) (3) (4) London Postgraduate Boards of Governors Queen Charlotte's Hospital for Women 1 Has a combined S and ICU None None National Heart & Chest Hospitals— Bromton Hospital — Has intensive therapy unit None None National Heart Hospital — Has intensive therapy unit None None Hospital for Sick Children — Has surgical neonatal unit None None
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the health districts which do not possess foetal monitoring machines and those which do not possess ultra-sound machines.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many women aged 35 to 40 years and over 41 years respectively had amniocentesis testing during 1975, 1976 and 1977.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will institute studies to examine the obstetric history of random samples of mothers whose babies died or whose babies are now classified as handicapped.
§ Mr. MoyleNo. Both my Department and the Medical Research Council are already supporting a number of relevant research projects, including the establishment of a perinatal epidemiology unit under the auspices of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Paediatric Association. The Medical Research Council is also currently considering the proposals for further research into prematurity made by the Children's Research Liaison Group Working Party on Infant and Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity. As my hon. Friend is already aware, we have taken a number of initiatives, including the publication of "Reducing the Risk" and the forthcoming conference on take-up of antenatal and child health services, to increase awareness of the scope for pre-222W vention by application of existing knowledge.