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The Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT) collaboration, co-led by Oxford Population Health’s National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, has today published their seventh set of findings and recommendations for hospitals and care providers who carry out reviews of the care received by babies who died in pregnancy from 22 weeks’ gestation onwards or died within 28 days of being born (perinatal deaths).

This report presents the findings from 4,166 reviews completed from January 2024 to December 2024.

Key findings:

  • During 2024, a review of care was started for 99% of all babies who died in the perinatal period and 95% of babies who died in the neonatal period (within 28 days of being born). Overall, only 84% of reviews were completed;
  • In 19 out of 20 reviews, PMRT panels identified at least one issue with care. In seven out of 20 reviews, at least one issue was identified and judged by the review teams to have been relevant to the outcome. This represents an increase from six out of 20 reviews in 2023;
  • Clinicians reported that 99% of parents in the UK overall were informed that a review of their care would take place. Of the parents who were told that a review would take place, clinicians report that 98% of parents were asked about their care as part of the review process but only 56% of reviews included comments from parents that could be analysed for the report;
  • In a random sample of 200 parent comments collected during the review process, 28% were questions about specific aspects of their care. Concerns about management plans and the care received were raised in 22% of the comments analysed;
  • Positive comments about the treatment and support received were present in 18% of comments contributed by parents. Overall, there were 12% of reports with concerns from parents about how they were approached by staff and how care was given.

 

Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Population Health website.