Meeting of the Parliament 21 December 2016
I congratulate Alison Johnstone on bringing this debate to the chamber and, of course, I commend Catriona Ogilvy for launching her Smallest Things campaign and Steve Reed MP for introducing his bill in the House of Commons.
As we are all aware, employment matters, including parental leave, are reserved. The UK Parliament will have to decide whether and in what form to pass the proposed bill. However, it is still worth discussing these matters in the Scottish Parliament, and the debate rightly acknowledges that.
I also pay tribute to everyone who is involved with Bliss. I recognise the excellent work that it does to support families who are dealing with premature and vulnerable newborns.
Most of my constituents who give birth do so at Crosshouse hospital in Kilmarnock or at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley. It is reassuring to know that Bliss has a presence in both hospitals through Bliss champions, who provide information and emotional support to parents whose babies are in neonatal units, and that the support does not stop the moment that their babies leave the hospital.
Even in ideal circumstances, welcoming a newborn baby into the world is an intense and exhausting experience, but how often have mothers said that all the trauma of labour and delivery melts away the moment that they hold their new baby in their arms for the first time? For around 5,800 babies each year, their parents do not get to experience that euphoric feeling, as their baby requires immediate neonatal care simply to keep it alive as soon as it is born. Instead, there is the heartache of not being able to hold the baby straight away and of not knowing whether their child will survive and how the premature arrival will affect the child’s development as it grows up. In some cases, the mother will require medical care, which exacerbates the stress that the family is already under.
Aside from the desire that parents feel to be close to their newborn baby, the importance of early physical contact cannot be overstated, as it has been proven to have a significant and far-reaching impact on the child’s mental and social development.
As a father, I was particularly struck to learn that nearly 70 per cent of fathers of premature babies end up having to return to work before their baby has even left the hospital’s neonatal unit. I am therefore glad that the importance of the presence of babies’ fathers is acknowledged in the scope of the bill.
Although parental leave is not devolved, there are things that the Scottish Government can do to increase the uptake of parental leave and reduce the trauma that often accompanies premature births. The Scottish ministers are considering ways to encourage parents to take up more of the parental leave to which they are entitled under the existing legislative framework. They are also in the process of carrying out a review of maternal and neonatal services—as Alison Johnstone pointed out—with a view to improving the care that is provided.
After extensive consultation with a variety of experts, patients and other stakeholders, the review group is now finalising its report, which is expected to be presented to ministers any day now. Indeed, perhaps the minister already has the report. I look forward to reading its findings and recommendations so that services can be further developed to meet the changing needs of babies and their parents.
When it comes to the start of a life, having excellent neonatal care alone is not enough. Babies need to be with their parents, and it is simply unfair that a premature date of birth eats into parental leave. A baby born at 28 weeks will on average spend the first 44 days of its life in a neonatal unit. One would think that a baby who has spent the first three months struggling to stay alive needs their parents to be around for a longer time, not a shorter time, once life really begins. With none of the euphoria that I described earlier, does it not seem unfair and damaging to send parents back to work three months earlier than other parents after their due date? That is no doubt why there are such high levels of postnatal depression, as Alison Johnstone mentioned.
People who have cheated death are often said to be living on borrowed time after that point in life. Taking the view that premature babies live on borrowed time until the day when they were meant to be born, starting the clock on parental leave any sooner than that simply makes no sense. [Interruption.]
I urge the Scottish Government to do all that it can to assist the parents of premature babies.