EALING Hospital is being urged to sign up to a new campaign, which could save 1,000 babies' lives each year.
Pregnancy charity MAMA Academy launched its Made to Measure Campaign last week to try to tackle the high levels of stillbirth in the UK.
Around 4,000 babies are stillborn every year and MAMA believes 1,000 of these could be saved if maternity units adopted the Perinatal Institute’s Growth Assessment Protocol (GAP), which costs just 50p per pregnancy and determines whether babies are growing at the correct rate.
Heidi Eldridge, MAMA chairman, who lost her baby son Aidan in 2009, said: “The UK finally has a stillbirth solution, which we have been waiting on for decades. It’s beyond doubt a cheap and simple way to save precious babies lives.”
Half of the UK’s maternity units have adopted the programme since 2013 and MAMA is keen to get Ealing on board.
However, Ealing Hospital NHS Trust board secretary David James said no firm commitments could be made until after the merger with North West London Hospitals NHS is completed in October.
He said: “We have used the Perinatal Institute’s customised growth charts for more than two years and we will be sending representatives to a conference about growth and measurement as a key indicator in the near future.”
More information about the campaign can be found at www.mamaacademy.org.uk
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