The Department is committed to improving the outcomes for babies and therefore supports the Confidential Enquiry for Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH). CEMACH published their report “Perinatal Mortality 2006—England Wales and Northern Ireland”, in May 2008 and found a continuing decline in the overall neonatal mortality rate and in the stillbirth, perinatal and neonatal mortality rates in multiple pregnancies. This report has already been placed in the Library.
The Department has also introduced a new maternity indicator to measure the percentage of women who have seen a midwife or a maternity health care professional for a health and social care assessment of needs, risk and choices by 12 completed weeks of pregnancy. This will improve early access to maternity care and outcomes for mothers and babies as risks will be identified early and an individualised plan of care developed.