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The main sources of information on infant mortality include: (a) the linked birth-death registration files for infants, which are produced by the Office for National Statistics ( ) and (b) data collected on all stillbirths and infant deaths by the national network of regional co-ordinating offices for the Confidential Enquiries into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy ( CESDI ). Additionally, information on congenital anomalies may be available from the Congenital anomalies monitoring system managed by the ONS that relies on a voluntary system of reporting. The small number of infant deaths annually does not allow direct monitoring at local level; however, its risk factors can be monitored and used towards effective planning and resource allocation. The present capacity of the PCTs to do this is limited due to lack of data in a usable form. Fortunately, a great deal of information can be collected easily, if not being collected already, by various agencies such as the health visitors, school nurses and the child health computer system. The collected data could potentially be collated on a single database that would provide most of the relevant information. The South West Public Health Observatory is currently exploring the feasibility of such a system in the South West that could be maintained locally, possibly within the child health computer networks. |
