The NHS Long Term Plan, published in 2019, outlines the NHS’s priorities for the future in order to get the most value for patients and from its funding. The plan was drawn up by various groups with a vested interest in the NHS, including frontline health and care staff, patient groups and other medical experts. 

As one of its objectives, the NHS aims to reduce the number of babies and mothers who die during birth, or shortly after, by 50% by 2025, aiming to save around 4,000 lives. This goal was brought forward from the original 2030 target. In this blog, Eddie Jones, head of JMW’s specialist medical negligence team, takes a look at how close the NHS is to that goal. 

Neonatal mortality 

A neonatal death is when a newborn baby dies within the first 28 days after birth. 

There appears to be progress toward reducing neonatal deaths. In 2010, the rate of neonatal mortalities was two in every 1,000 births. As of 2020, the rate has dropped to 1.3.

Prior to 2021, the ambition was to cut the neonatal mortality rate to 1.5 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2025. However, in 2021, this ambition was revised, as outlined in the Safer Maternity Care Progress Report 2021. The ambition was changed to 1.0 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births. 

As we can see in the graph below, the NHS appears to be on track to reach its 1.0 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births, seeing a steady decline since 2010. 

Change the below to discuss what maternity services can do to prevent injuries to newborn babies. 

• Ensure safe staffing levels on maternity units
• Support staff to follow the hospital and national guidelines at all times
• Establish effective processes and systems to manage maternity services safely at all times
• Provide good training and support to midwives caring for babies at home on how to identify and treat newborn illnesses

Eddie Jones, Head of Clinical Negligence at JMW said: “Neonatal deaths are incredibly difficult for the families affected and we should be constantly striving to reduce those numbers as much as possible. The fact that the NHS is on track to hit their target of 1.0 deaths per 1,000 births is good news and should be looked to as an example for other areas where healthcare improvements can be made across the board. It is critical that the NHS continues to make those improvements and make sure that they hit their target in 2025.”