Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to issue advice to commissioners, regulators and providers about tackling the disproportionately high rates of still birth and neonatal death in multiple pregnancies.

We have made reducing stillbirth an improvement area for the National Health Service in the NHS Outcomes Framework. The Department is working with key partners, including NHS England, Public Health England, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, The Royal College of Midwives and the stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, to identify and drive forward the actions required to help reduce further the stillbirth and neonatal mortality rate in England.

Evidence based advice on the care of women with multiple pregnancies is set out in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Clinical Guidelines ‘Multiple Pregnancies – The management of twin and triplet pregnancies in the antenatal period’ which is attached. In line with these guidelines, we would expect clinical care for women with twin and triplet pregnancies to be provided by a nominated multidisciplinary team consisting of a core team, including named specialist obstetricians, who have experience and knowledge of managing twin and triplet pregnancies. The Department has not undertaken an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the NICE guidelines. It is for local maternity care providers to determine how best to deliver services for women with multiple pregnancies in their area. In doing so we would expect them to give due regard to NICE guidance.

NHS England is undertaking a major review of the commissioning of NHS maternity services, in line with commitments made in the NHS Five Year Forward View. The review will assess current maternity care provision and consider how services should be developed to meet the changing needs of women and babies. This review is expected to report by the end of the year.