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File on 4: Why does the UK still have high stillbirth rates?

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Why does the UK still have high stillbirth rates?

01/06/2010

BBC Radio 4 - File on 4, Why does the UK still have high stillbirth rates?

Ann Alexander asks why the UK has some of the highest rates of stillbirths in Europe.

The number of stillbirths in the UK has remained the same over the past decade, and many go unexplained. Are opportunities to learn lessons being missed? Ann Alexander investigates.

The UK has some of the highest rates of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths in Europe.

There have been calls for improved care in hospital labour wards and an increase in research efforts to discover why so many apparently perfectly normal babies die.

However there is growing concern that in some hospitals, these deaths are not being properly investigated. Parents report difficulties in finding out full details of what went wrong. Shortages of specialist pathologists have meant that crucial post-mortem examinations are never carried out. And the inquest system is patchy when it comes to discovering the cause of a new born baby's death.

Ann Alexander investigates. 

Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

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