Data seen only by the BBC shows that tens of thousands of newborn babies in England go back into hospital soon after birth. The main reasons are jaundice, feeding difficulties, and weight loss. It costs the NHS millions of pounds a year, and experts say many of these readmissions could be avoided.
In this episode of BBC News Behind the Investigation, Melanie Stewart-Smith talks to Dr Deb Cohen from File on 4 Investigates about what the investigation found.
They cover the scale of the problem: about 30,000 readmissions with jaundice, 10,000 with feeding difficulties and 5,000 with weight loss – with some babies having a mix of these – along with stories of families whose babies were readmitted and how Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool is trying to prevent readmissions
00:00 Introduction
00:41 What drew us to the story
01:11 What is an FOI request?
04:06 The scale of newborn readmissions
05:01 Leo’s story
06:20 "We thought we’d smashed it": Rachel’s experience
08:11 Why the language around infant feeding matters
10:21 The lack of postnatal support
12:25 Is low milk supply really rare?
16:14 The unpublished government report
17:31 What Alder Hey is doing differently
19:51 The government’s response
20:35 What surprised Deb most
21:38 Key takeaways for policymakers
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