Tracey has been extremely busy recently campaigning to see improvements in infant deaths and support and care for sick children. Last month she lead a debate on how we can improve Stillbirth and Infant Mortality rates in the UK. The full transcript can be found here.
As part of Tracey’s ongoing work on championing improvements for children who are born too sick, too small or too soon she was delighted to meet recently with WellChild, the charity for sick children to discuss how she can support their work in ensuring better provision of care and support for those children who should be at a time in their lives that is care free but are very poorly. She was delighted to learn of the annual WellChild Awards, an outstanding event where we celebrate the inspiration shown by some of the country’s seriously ill children and young people as well as the remarkable professionals who go above and beyond in providing care for them.
Nominations for the WellChild Awards 2014 closing date is May 5th, that is the coming Monday and Tracey would like to encourage anyone who knows of someone to nominate them using the online form here. Details of categories can be found here. For more information on the work of the Charity or how you can support them please visit https://www.wellchild.org.uk/
Further to this, today, she welcomes the launch and the findings of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health (RCPCH) and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) report entitled Why Children Die. The report finds that many of the causes of child death – including perinatal deaths and suicides, disproportionally affect the most disadvantaged in society, and says that many child deaths could be prevented through a combination of changes to infrastructure, political engagement and improved training for children’s healthcare professionals. UK children are at a higher risk of premature death than their Western European counterparts due to the growing gap between rich and poor and a lack of targeted public health policies to reduce child deaths. Every year, an estimated 2,000 additional children– that’s 5 a day – die in the UK compared to the best performing country, Sweden. For the full report please click here.
Tracey would like to champion the outstanding work of our third sector in this area, the work of the charities in this area is absolutely wonderful. She would like to thank the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Lullaby Trust, Tommy’s, Bliss, Sands, Kent Sands, Abigail’s Footsteps, Together for Short Lives, the National Childbirth Trust, the Women’s Institutes and Bounty for their ongoing support on the issue.