HC Deb 20 March 1990 vol 169 cc568-9W
Mr. Robert Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice he has received from the medical profession on measures to reduce infant mortality at birth.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The Government's reply to the first report from the Social Services Committee Session 1988–89 on perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality (Cm 741) reflected medical advice. The main measures announced in the report were:

  1. (i) the establishment of a working group to report to the Chief Medical Officer on introducing a form of confidential inquiry into stillbirths and infant deaths;
  2. (ii) a requirement for all Regions to have at least one paediatric pathologist in post by April 1991 and to have reviewed their need for further posts by 1992;
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  3. (iii) the introduction in all regions where they do not already exist of epidemiological surveys of stillbirths and neonatal deaths;
  4. (iv) The Medical Research Council to undertake a major review of the literature relating to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and advise on what new research is needed.

Mr. Robert Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies, funded by his Department, are being undertaken into infant mortality.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The Medical Research Council, which receives grant in aid from the Department of Education and Science, is the Government agency responsible for the promotion of bio-medical research.

In addition, the Department of Health funds research on public health and health management issues. Expenditure from these funds on maternity and neonatal services is currently running at about £400,000 per annum. The largest single allocation is to the national perinatal epidemiology unit at Oxford whose programme of research consists of three main elements:

  1. (i) surveys to describe the characteristics of people using the perinatal health services, the care they receive and the mortality and morbidity they experience;
  2. (ii) randomised control trials to assess the relative merits of alternative forms of perinatal care;
  3. (iii) formal syntheses and dissemination of the results of research evaluating the effects of care.