PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(29 May 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of serious maternity incidents at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust since 2018.

Asked by:
Alison Griffiths (Conservative)

Stabilised and adjusted perinatal mortality rates at University Sussex Hospitals in 2024 remained unchanged from 2020, at 5.49 per 1,000 births. In both time periods, the trust perinatal mortality rates were 5% to 15% lower than comparable trusts. However, this rate increased in 2022 to 6.27 per 1,000 births, putting the trust within 5% of comparable trusts for that year.

In 2021, Western Sussex Hospitals and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals merged into University Sussex Hospital. Therefore, trends prior to 2020 are presented separately.

Western Sussex Hospitals’ stabilised and adjusted perinatal mortality was within 5% of comparable trusts in 2018 and 2019, at 4.75 and 3.87 per 1,000 births respectively.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospital’s stabilised and adjusted perinatal mortality was 5% to 15% lower than comparable trusts in 2018 and 2019, at 5.42 and 5.62 per 1,000 births respectively.

Comparable trusts for Western Sussex Hospitals are other trusts with 4,000 or more births, while comparable trusts for Brighton and Sussex University Hospital are other trusts with Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and neonatal surgery.

Answered by:
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