Dozens of twin babies ‘are dying each year because hospitals fail to follow official NHS guidance’

Dozens of twin babies are dying each year because hospitals are failing to follow official NHS guidance, a charity has warned.

An audit of 30 hospitals by the Twins and Multiple Births Association (Tamba) found that only 58% of larger maternity units are following guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

This drops to 39% for smaller units, the research said. Those units that adhered to the guidance reported significantly lower death rates.

Tamba estimates that if it was followed by all hospitals, a fifth of the 270 twins in Britain who die before they are a month old could be saved – that’s 55 babies.

Keith Reed, chief executive of Tamba, said: “This report highlights the importance of improved antenatal care for multiple pregnancies and the potential impact upon outcomes if clinical guidance is implemented for our community.

“When mums of multiples were able to have a discussion by 24 weeks with a multidisciplinary team about the risks of preterm labour and possible outcome of a preterm birth we can correlate that with a lower stillbirth rate.

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“What’s worrying is many maternity units do not have such a team in place to begin with and it’s down to pot luck if you have healthcare professionals who are experienced in multiple births.

“The figures clearly show the benefits of adopting national clinical guidance of care for families of multiples and supports the national ambition set out by the then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to reduce still births, neonatal deaths and patient safety incidences in maternity services.

“We can safely assume that if all our recommendations were adopted then babies’ lives could be saved. We also know that fewer babies would go into neonatal care which could potentially save the NHS in England £3.82 million a year.”

Tamba wants to reduce the number of multiple births having to go into intensive or neonatal care and ensure mothers get the specialist care they deserve and which is recommended by Nice.

Tampa said multiples are still over one and a half times more likely to end in a stillbirth and over three times more likely to end with a neonatal death.

The audit was funded by the Department of Health. Minister for mental health and inequalities, Jackie Doyle-Price, said: “We want the NHS to be the safest place in the world to give birth.

“That’s why we’ve invested millions of pounds in training for staff and equipment alongside supporting programmes like Tamba’s to ensure every mother gets the best quality care.”