Campaign and petition email responses

Will you attend the Saving Babies’ Lives Report Launch?

As you may be aware, health is a devolved matter to the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government recognise the profound impact that baby loss has on parents and their family, and commend the work of Sands in supporting bereaved families.

Every death is a tragedy for the parents and families involved, and that is why in September 2022, the Scottish Government committed to a review into neonatal death rates led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

The Scottish Government continue to improve the provision of maternity and neonatal services through the implementation of ‘The Best Start’ programme, supported by over £18m of funding since 2017.

This programme is driving a transformation in maternity care in Scotland, with more women receiving continuity of carer throughout their pregnancy. That is the care that midwives said they wanted delivered, that women said they wanted to receive, and that evidence shows will provide better outcomes for women and babies.

The Scottish Government have developed community hubs, and further increased the use of Near Me technology that allows for remote consultations and appointments that contribute to continuity caring.

The Scottish Government consistently engage with NHS and clinical communities in Scotland through the Perinatal Network for Scotland, the Scottish Government led expert stillbirth group and the Maternal and Children’s Improvement Collaborative.

Staffing across NHS Scotland is historically high, having increased for 10 consecutive years – 93% of all medical training posts advertised in 2022, were filled successfully, including 100% of Obstetrics and Gynaecology positions.

The Scottish Government have increased the number of funded places on undergraduate midwifery programmes in Scotland by 20% over the last decade, to 301 funded places in 2022.

The Scottish Government recently announced that a Nursing and Midwifery taskforce has been established to build on efforts to make Scotland the best place for nurses and midwives to come and work.

Among issues for the Taskforce to consider are: building exemplary workforce cultures; addressing operational barriers; and improving workforce conditions, facilities and learning opportunities and supporting the implementation of the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy.

My SNP colleague, David Linden MP, spoke in a debate on baby loss and safe staffing in maternity care, and asked the UK Government to consider amending the shortage occupation list so that the UK could “attract more people to come here and fill the roles [within the neonatal workforce]”.

The Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan 2021-2024 commits to developing a range of improvements in services for pregnancy and maternity. One of the priorities of the Plan is to ensure maternity departments have dedicated facilities for people who are experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications.

Multiple social, structural and individual factors lead to health inequalities, every individual has different needs and different experiences, that is why the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan aims to take an intersectional approach which recognises that many women and girls in Scotland will face multiple and often overlapping, disadvantages and barriers to accessing good healthcare.

The Scottish Government are committed to ensuring gender is a foundational consideration in the development of health policy going forward.

The Scottish Government’s principles for gendering health policy include: Systematic inequality which negatively impacts women’s health should be addressed and challenged. Healthcare provision should be intersectional, gender-competent and culturally competent.

Please rest assured that myself and my SNP colleagues at both Westminster and Holyrood take the issues of women's wellbeing very seriously, as well as that of new born babies.