Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the guidance entitled Supporting pregnant women using maternity services during the coronavirus pandemic: actions for NHS providers in enabling parents’ full access together to their baby in neonatal units.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked closely with trusts to adopt the actions set out in the guidance and to remove barriers which prevent parental presence in neonatal units. The guidance is clear that parents of babies in neonatal critical care are partners in care and should not be considered to be visitors.