Four trusts rated ‘red’ on baby deaths

Four hospital trusts have been assessed as having higher than expected rates of both stillbirth and neonatal deaths, according to HSJ analysis of a national safety audit.

Only one of those trusts scoring highly on both measures is part of the ongoing national government maternity inquiry. That is University Hospitals of Leicester Trust.

Three other trusts that are not part of Baroness Valerie Amos’ review were also rated “red” for these measures: South Tyneside and Sunderland, East Suffolk and North Essex, and Royal Devon University Healthcare Foundation Trusts.

A red rating means their adjusted death rate was at least 5% cent higher than peers. 

The four trusts are also red rated for “extended perinatal mortality” - which combines the two other metrics - including stillbirths after 24 weeks of pregnancy and “neonatal” deaths up to 28 days after birth.

MBRRACE study author Brad Manktelow, from Leicester University, told HSJ the mortality rates reported are not definitive measures of care quality.

But he added: “However, given the information that is available, the rates reported by MBRRACE-UK are robust and make an important contribution in highlighting those organisations where extra investigations should be targeted [to] improve the quality of perinatal and neonatal care in the UK.”

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Source: HSJ, 26 March 2026