Deadly cost of missed maternity care targets

Damning study claims 2,500 babies could have been saved since 2018

- By Lucy Johnston SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

HUNDREDS of babies are dying needlessly due to delays in improving NHS maternity care, a damning report warns.

The study, by charities Tommy’s and Sands, reveals at least 2,500 could have been saved since 2018 if government targets to halve stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths had been met on time.

Instead, progress has stalled - and families are paying the price.

"This is the equivalent of losing 100 primary school classrooms full of children,” said Dr Robert Wilson, who leads the joint policy unit for the two baby charities.

In 2015, then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised to slash these tragic death rates by 2030, before moving the target year forward to 2025.