BAPM welcomes publication of the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation. We recognise the profound impact that the experiences described in the report have had on babies, women and families, and thank all those who so courageously shared their stories. We also thank the many staff who contributed to the review.
We strongly support the ambition to strengthen national leadership and redesign services to deliver a more integrated and equitable maternity, neonatal, postnatal and community system.
The report's neonatal focus is centred on care delivered within maternity services, including postnatal, transitional and community care and we welcome recommendations to ensure these services are available consistently in all regions.
However, there needs to be a more comprehensive review of care delivered on neonatal units, including ensuring sufficient capacity in the right places, investment in multidisciplinary neonatal staffing and focus on perinatal optimisation.
We are very supportive of the commitment to develop interoperable maternity and neonatal digital systems, which will improve communication across settings, support safer care and reduce duplicate data entry. However, this must include neonatal units to ensure standardised data capture and consistent data flows to the agreed national NHS data standard. We fully endorse the plans to improve maternity and neonatal estates, but it is vital this includes neonatal parental accommodation to enable families to remain close to their babies throughout their care. We recognise the importance of the suggested new approach to maternity and neonatal litigation and ensuring that learning from adverse events leads to sustained improvements in care.
As a member of the Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, BAPM is committed to working with partners to support implementation of these recommendations through a fully funded implementation programme that delivers meaningful and sustainable improvements in care for babies, women and families.
