Infant mortality remains too high in Stoke-on-Trent despite a recent fall, officials say.

The latest figures show that the city has an infant mortality rate of 5.7 per 1,000 live births, compared to 4.2 per 1,000 across England.

While Stoke-on-Trent's rate is trending downwards, it has remained consistently above the national average for decades, and reducing infant mortality is one of the priorities in the city's health and wellbeing strategy.

Members of the health and wellbeing board were given an update on the work being done to tackle the problem, including actions to reduce smoking during pregnancy and teenage conceptions – key risk factors for infant mortality.

Director of public health Stephen Gunther told the board that the work across partners also included efforts to improve the city's housing by dealing with damp and mould, and ensuring there is the right support for mums and their babies from pre-conception to post-discharge.

Mr Gunther said: "Our figures have come down slightly, which is great. Do we fully understand why? No, because it's multi-factorial. But our overall rates are coming down, which is positive."

Forthcoming actions include an in-depth study into the public health factors behind Stoke-on-Trent's high infant death rates in the first 28 days.

But according to the report to the health and wellbeing board, reaching an agreement with partners over data sharing for this project 'remains a challenge'.

advertisement

Mr Gunther told the board that there would also be further work aimed at bringing down Stoke-on-Trent's teenage pregnancy rate, which remains above the national average.

The city's conception rate for 15 to 17-year-old girls is 21.8 per 1,000, compared to 13.9 per 1,000 across England.

Recent schemes aimed at reducing Stoke-on-Trent's teenage pregnancy rate have included a communications campaigns around issues such as consent and contraception – produced with feedback from young people – and work in gyms and sports centres to engage young males in the C-card scheme, which provides free condoms.

Mr Gunther added: "Our rate of teenage pregnancy, which has been going down for the last couple of decades, has started to slightly increase.

"Next year part of the focus will be to reduce the amount of teenage pregnancies. You may have seen posters across the city around our sexual health work, and campaigns arounds STIs and contraception.

"There's been work to make sure contraception is accessible through our sexual health service, which you can see through the uptake of C-card for males, as well as making sure we've got long-lasting active contraception available through primary care and pharmacies. That has dwindled slightly."

Councillor Majid Khan, cabinet member for health integration and wellbeing at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, asked for further information about how much impact the various schemes were having on infant mortality rates.

He said: "Although there's a lot of good work going on, I think there's always room for further improvement. I think we need to get some feedback from our partners in relation to infant mortality, mothers smoking during pregnancy and information around breastfeeding.

advertisement

"How well is it being done, how well is it being taken up, is it having an impact?

The health and wellbeing board also received assurance reports on other priority areas, including children achieving a healthy weight, and managing the long-term condition of children. Board members voted to give the reports 'partial assurance'.