Hansard

I, too, commend Rhoda Grant for securing this debate on the very important—but not widely discussed—topic of premature birth and care of babies who are born too early, too sick or too small.

Rhoda Grant, the minister, other members and I have been active in the chamber this week on a variety of health-related issues. On Tuesday, we discussed a bill at stage 1 that will set the scene to enable integration of adult health and social care across Scotland. It is aimed at improving the wellbeing of many people who are at the upper end of the age spectrum.

Today, we are discussing the other extreme of life. There are many fewer patients at that extreme, but first-class care can set tiny babies on the path to a normal, healthy childhood and the lifestyle and lifespan to which most of us aspire.

My first encounter with prematurity was when a colleague anaesthetist with a special interest in neonatal and paediatric care became the father of a baby who weighed about 1.5 pounds. I remember seeing that tiny scrap of humanity in an incubator and wondering how on earth she could possibly survive. Mercifully, she became one of the tiniest babies to make it in those days, and I am delighted to say that she grew into and through childhood and is now a very successful and healthy adult. She must be in her mid-40s by now.

My memories of that tiny baby were rekindled yesterday when I received an email from a North East Scotland constituent, who asked me to take part in this debate. He told me of his experience, which he is happy for me to share with members. I will quote from his email, because it highlights the importance of what the debate seeks to achieve. He said:

“In September 2007 my daughter was born 3 months early and weighed 1lb, which is the same as a baby of 22 weeks gestation. My wife and I were fortunate to stay in a city which has an excellent neonatal care unit. Without this, the care and attention provided by the doctors and nurses there, and the support provided by BLISS, ... there is a very real chance that my daughter would not have survived. Happily she did, and in August this year she commenced primary school with the rest of her friends. Please continue to support neonatal care, as the service provided saves lives each and every day.”

That uplifting story is about just one of the 8,000 babies who are admitted to neonatal care every year in Scotland either because they are born prematurely or because they are seriously ill. However, not everyone in Scotland has such a good experience as my constituent had. A report by Bliss Scotland in 2011 revealed a significant shortage of neonatal nurses in special high-dependency or intensive care units, and the need in 2009 to close more than half of Scotland’s neonatal units to new admissions at some point during the year.

The report also revealed a lack of support for parents, including a shortage of overnight accommodation for parents who have to travel far from home to receive appropriate care for their babies. Having had the experience of staying for five weeks with a son who had to go to Birmingham for transplant surgery, I know how important it is to have accommodation close to the hospital, with other people around who are undergoing and understand the fears and strong emotions that close relatives experience at such stressful times.

I therefore commend the activity of Bliss Scotland, which works hard to get the best possible care and support for all premature and sick babies and their families, and I welcome its contribution to the new standards for neonatal care in “Neonatal Care in Scotland: A Quality Framework”, which was published in March this year. Those standards deal with areas such as the nurse-to-baby ratio and the appropriate training levels that are needed to deliver safe, effective and patient-centred care; the co-ordination of care between units; and the facilities and support that should be available for all families. If they are properly implemented, they should result in the gold standard for neonatal care that has been agreed by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine.

It is important that Scotland’s health boards now set out detailed plans for implementation of the new standards within a 10-year timeframe. I hope that the minister will assure us that the Scottish Government will hold health boards to account via regular reviews and open discussion on their progress towards ensuring that all babies who are born prematurely or sick get the best possible care. I look forward to his response at the end of the debate.

12:53