Investigation needed into rising child death rate in Shropshire

The families of two babies who died due to maternity failings are demanding answers as to why the death rate has risen

An investigation into a rise in the number of child deaths in Shropshire is needed, health officials say.

Last year the county had England's highest child death rate, data shows.

The NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) says the recent under-18 mortality rate needs examining to check for underlying issues. Over a four-year period, the rate is below the national average.

But two families at the heart of the Shropshire maternity scandal are demanding to know what is being done.

The parents of Kate Stanton-Davies and Pippa Griffiths, babies who died as a result of failings, have written a letter to the ICB asking officials to address issues contributing to the recent deaths and voicing concern about the way the ICB is dealing with the matter.

It states: "We want to know what you are proactively doing to understand why your integrated care system has the worst neonate, infant and childhood death figures in the entire country.

"And we want to know what you are doing to address the issues contributing to these deaths."

The families said they wanted transparency and to know the public was being informed of action that was being taken.

Mortality rates for those under one are also higher than the national average

They have criticised the ICB for saying "the variation between years was only seven additional deaths" and add in their letter: "I wonder how the parents of those seven children would feel that you used their life-changing tragedies to try and distract from the terrifying facts that you are overseeing failing health and social care organisations."

The data from the National Childhood Mortality Database shows that in Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin, there were four deaths of those aged 1-17 years old in 2020-21. That rose to 11 in 2021-22 and 18 in 2022-23.

That means in that three-year period the mortality rate rose from 4.2 child deaths per 100,000 people, well below the national average, to 18.9 - the worst level in England.

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Among newborns and infants up to one-year-old, the ICB said it was also seeing a mortality rate higher than the national average.

Medical director of NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Dr Nick White said, historically, deaths of newborns in Shropshire had been higher than average, but there had been a reduction last year.

He said he anticipated work undertaken after the Ockenden review into Shropshire maternity services would build on improvements already seen.

As of 1 September 2023, 136 out of 158 actions arising from the final report had been implemented, Dr White said.

He added due to the low number of children's deaths in the county, the rate could be skewed by a small increase in childhood deaths.

"Against this measure, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin benchmark well below the national average and have a relatively low rate of childhood mortality," he said.