Dorset County Hospital has among the highest rates of stillbirths and neonatal death in the country, according to a new report.

Hospitals with higher-than-expected perinatal mortality – stillbirths and deaths after up to 28 days of life – have been highlighted in the new MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquires across the UK) report.

After examining UK perinatal deaths for births from January to December 2015, they came up with a traffic light system to highlight those where action needs to be taken to improve outcomes.

This means that, based on the report’s red, amber, yellow, green traffic light system, used to highlight places where action needs to be taken on the rates, Dorset County Hospital has been labelled ‘red’.

Researchers for the study grouped organisations together by their type and size so as to be able to fairly compare perinatal mortality rates between the various groups.

The authors of the report have called on the 21 organisations with a red rating to look into the potential causes behind their higher rates.

Dr Brad Manktelow, associate professor at the University of Leicester, who led the statistical analysis, said: “Those trusts and health boards identified with high rates of stillbirth or neonatal death rates should review the quality of the care they provide.”

Michel Hooper-Immins, an elected public governor of Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust (DCHFT), said: “Statistics often tell only part of the story. In my opinion, we need to ensure that mothers continue to be cared for at Dorchester and not be sent off to Bournemouth, Poole or Yeovil. I join our patients in expressing every confidence in DCH’s maternity services, much praised by local mothers.”

A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital said: “DCHFT are committed to the national initiative and are signed up to the Maternity Safety Bundle, which focuses upon reducing smoking in pregnancy, highlighting the importance of baby’s movements, monitoring baby’s heartbeat accurately and using a customised chart to plot baby’s growth during pregnancy.

DCHFT support women to choose the care they want during their pregnancy, labour and birth.

“Women in labour at DCHFT are guaranteed 1:1 midwife care, with immediate access to an obstetrician when required, with those with complex pregnancies planning their care with their named consultant obstetrician.”

Of the other health bodies in the study, 54 were rated ‘amber’, with perinatal mortality rates of up to ten per cent higher than average for their group and 78 were rated ‘yellow’, meaning their mortality rates were up to ten per cent lower than average compared to similar organisations.

Twelve were rated ‘green’, with their mortality rates more than ten per cent lower than average for their group.

The overall findings suggest that one in eight health bodies in the UK have higher-than-expected rates of stillbirths and neonatal death.

Nationwide, researchers also found that the rate of stillbirth in the UK fell by eight per cent between 2013 and 2015.

The stillbirth rate was 3.87 for every 1,000 births in 2015, down from 4.2 for every 1,000 births in 2013.

However, the authors of the report warned that these rates were still worse than in many comparable European countries.

Additionally, the rate of neonatal deaths remained much the same, with a small fall from 1.84 deaths per 1,000 births to 1.74 deaths per 1,000 births between 2013 and 2015.

MBRRACE is a UK-wide collaboration which investigates maternal deaths, still births, infant deaths and maternal and infant morbidity.