§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the rate per thousand of perinatal deaths for each district within the county of Cumbria;
(2) what is the average rate per thousand for perinatal deaths for those districts which comprise the Northern region.
§ Mr. DorrellThe overall perinatal death rate for the northern region is 9.2. The table gives the number of births, perinatal deaths and the perinatal death rate for each component district. It also includes the arithmetic average of these rates, unadjusted for the number of births.
85W
Total births Perinatal deaths Perinatal rate Chester le Street 622 5 18.0 Darlington 1,352 12 18.9 Derwentside 1,008 12 111.9 Durham 882 10 111.3 Easington 1,322 9 16.8 Sedgefield 1,127 6 15.3 Teesdale 269 2 17.4 Wear Valley 815 8 19.8 Northumberland 3,497 33 9.4 Alnwick 321 3 19.3 Berwick upon Tweed 284 0 10 Blyth Valley 1,005 10 110.0 Castle Morpeth 481 4 18.3 Tyneside 655 6 19.2 Wansbeck 751 10 113.3 1 Denotes a rate of less than 20 events. 2 Number of deaths 0–6 days plus stillbirths per 1,000 total births. The arithmetic average of these rates is 8.7.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department has collected on the factors which account for the disparity in statistics covering the rate per thousand perinatal deaths for Allerdale district and other districts in the Northern region.
§ Mr. DorrellThis is a matter for the regional health authority in the first instance. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of the Northern regional health authority, Mr. Peter Carr. Clinicians in the northern region have operated a very successful perinatal mortality survey on a voluntary basis for the last 10 years, and an annual report of their findings is published each year by the authority. In addition, the RHA is to undertake a more detailed analysis to look for any local clustering of deaths using data now available for the period 1981–90.
In the meantime the hon. Member will be pleased to note that although the perinatal figures for Allerdale were disappointing in 1989, they were based on a relatively small sample and the figures for West Cumbria as a whole for the three years 1987–89 show a perinatal mortality rate of 7.7 per thousand population compared with a national average of 8.7 per thousand and a Northern regional average of 8.9 per thousand.