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Meeting of the Parliament 08 September 2010

08 Sep 2010 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Scottish Cot Death Trust

Scanlon, Mary Con Highlands and Islands Watch on SPTV

I congratulate Gil Paterson on securing tonight’s debate, which rightly allows Parliament to thank the Scottish Cot Death Trust for the tremendous work that it has done over the past 25 years and, I hope, to raise awareness of this issue. Over the summer I spent considerable time with babies: a month ago my daughter gave birth to twins. When we look at newborn babies, we realise what a special gift they are.

With only a small grant of £5,000 each year from the Scottish Executive, the majority of the trust’s funds come from donations and fundraising efforts. Over the past 25 years, the trust has invested more than £3 million in research projects, in educating thousands of parents and professionals about cot death and informing them of how to reduce the risk of that tragedy happening to them, and in supporting families in Scotland who have had to endure the heartache of losing a baby or young child to sudden and unexpected death in infancy.

The work of the Scottish Cot Death Trust has clearly had an impact. As Gil Paterson said, in 1985 there were 153 sudden infant deaths, but in 2009 the figure was 32. We should recognise and acknowledge the reduction in deaths that has taken place over the 25 years in which the trust has been in operation. It is also noticeable from the statistics that in 1985 the sudden infant death rate per 1,000 live births was 2.32, whereas last year it was 0.54—a considerable reduction.

Cot death is not a new problem. It was mentioned in the first Book of Kings, in the Bible, which states:

“and this woman’s child died during the night because she overlaid it”.

Views and opinions have changed but, as other members have said, sudden death in an otherwise healthy infant can still happen to any baby or young child, regardless of their family background or social status. However, studies suggest that a teenage mum is six times more likely to have a child suffer cot death than is a mum over 20. As David Stewart said, male children are twice as likely as female children to suffer cot death. The chances of a child suffering cot death also increase if their parents smoke and take drugs. All that justifies the research that the Scottish Cot Death Trust has carried out and the resources that it has allocated to research.

The Scottish Conservatives have long argued for a universal health visitor programme to improve the support that is offered to new parents and the advice and guidance that are given to them as they raise their child. Although it may not be possible to eradicate cot death completely, provision of more health visitors to assist new parents and to warn them about some of the major risks that can cause cot death would surely assist in further reducing the number of deaths.

The Scottish Cot Death Trust has published a report of some 50 pages on the pilot of a multidisciplinary case review of each sudden unexpected death in infancy. Throughout it, there is a sense of frustration at the many delays and problems that could have been overcome including, for example, the time that is taken for the Crown Office to issue guidance to procurators fiscal, the number of fiscals who frequently fail to follow instructions, the lack of meetings being organised by paediatricians a year and a half into the pilot, and the lack of a standardised policy inquiry form to allow information to be collated from the time of a child’s death.

The work of the Scottish Cot Death Trust cannot be overstated. I am delighted to have been able to take part in this debate.

17:20