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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help raise awareness of practical obstetric multi-professional training among medical professionals.

Ben Gummer

In November 2015 the Government announced a national ambition to halve by 2030 the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth. In support of the National Health Service in achieving this ambition over £1 million has been allocated to Health Education England (HEE) to roll out training programmes to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care.

HEE’s Maternity Safety Steering Group have commissioned the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to produce a catalogue of quality assured standardised multi-disciplinary training packages in which practical obstetric multi-professional training will be included.

Each NHS trust in England will receive this catalogue and be asked to confirm which training they will implement. This will include medical and midwifery staff. Funding will be available to support this work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help improve awareness of cerebral palsy amongst health practitioners.

Jane Ellison

There are no plans to establish a national register of children with cerebral palsy. PACE, the charity which supports children and families affected by motor disorders such as cerebral palsy indicates that the current United Kingdom incidence rate of cerebral palsy is around one in 400 births and that approximately 1,800 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy every year.

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training to diagnose and provide care for children with cerebral palsy.

Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

Employers are responsible for ensuring that staff receive appropriate development to continue to deliver safe and effective healthcare.

The Health Visitor training programme is not a condition specific programme of training. Health Visitors are all qualified nurses and/or midwives with a broad range of clinical skills. They undertake an additional year of training to be a health visitor during which they specialise in child and family issues.

Health Visitors can support families with a child with cerebral palsy in the management of the clinical aspects of the condition. They can also advise on links to other specialist services, resources and groups to support the needs of the family and the child.

The Department has asked the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence to prepare a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy. It is expected to be published in January 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what specialist support is available for health visitors in diagnosing and referring children with cerebral palsy.

Jane Ellison

There are no plans to establish a national register of children with cerebral palsy. PACE, the charity which supports children and families affected by motor disorders such as cerebral palsy indicates that the current United Kingdom incidence rate of cerebral palsy is around one in 400 births and that approximately 1,800 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy every year.

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training to diagnose and provide care for children with cerebral palsy.

Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

Employers are responsible for ensuring that staff receive appropriate development to continue to deliver safe and effective healthcare.

The Health Visitor training programme is not a condition specific programme of training. Health Visitors are all qualified nurses and/or midwives with a broad range of clinical skills. They undertake an additional year of training to be a health visitor during which they specialise in child and family issues.

Health Visitors can support families with a child with cerebral palsy in the management of the clinical aspects of the condition. They can also advise on links to other specialist services, resources and groups to support the needs of the family and the child.

The Department has asked the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence to prepare a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy. It is expected to be published in January 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what programmes are in place to reduce the number of babies born with a low Apgar score.

Ben Gummer

Apgar is a quick test performed on a baby at one and five minutes after birth. The one-minute score determines how well the baby tolerated the birthing process. The five-minute score tells the doctor how well the baby is doing outside the mother’s womb.

In rare cases, the test will be done 10 minutes after birth. The Apgar test is done by a doctor, midwife, or nurse. Who examines the baby’s breathing effort, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes and skin colour. Most of the time, a low score at one minute is near-normal by five minutes.

Any score lower than 7 is a sign that the baby needs medical attention. The lower the score, the more help the baby needs to adjust outside the mother’s womb. A lower Apgar score does not mean a child will have serious or long-term health problems. The Apgar score is not designed to predict the future health of the child.

In November 2015 the Government announced a national ambition to halve by 2030 the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth. In support of this ambition more than 90 applications have received additional funding as part of a £2.24 million trusts safety equipment. Over £1 million is being invested to roll out training programmes to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care. We have also allocated £500,000 to develop, a new online system that can be used consistently across the National Health Service to enable staff to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death.

The announcement also committed to publishing an annual report to update the public, health professionals, providers and commissioners on the progress we are making towards achieving the ambition. On 7 March we launched Sign up to Safety – ‘Spotlight on Maternity,’ a guidance document that asks all trusts with maternity services to commit publically to contributing towards achieving the Government’s national ambition.