A confidential enquiry looks for common themes where care can be improved. The last MBRRACE-UK confidential enquiry looked in detail at babies who were stillborn before labour began close to their due dates in 2013. This confidential enquiry looked at babies who were stillborn or died shortly after birth after 37 weeks of pregnancy, as a result of something that happened during labour or birth. The babies in this confidential enquiry died in 2015.

For the enquiry, panels of clinicians, including midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists and pathologists reviewed the medical notes of 78 mothers and babies, and compared them with national guidelines describing the care that is expected in the NHS. The panels were looking to understand what had happened and if guidelines had been followed. They looked for common errors or difficulties that may have contributed to the babies’ deaths. And they assessed the quality of care the mother received after the baby had died.