Every sleep a safe sleep
The sudden and unexpected death of an infant (SUDI) is one of the most devastating tragedies that can happen to any family. At least 300 infants still die suddenly and unexpectedly each year in England and Wales.
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership has seen a sharp increase in the number of infants who have died because of unsafe sleep practices over recent years. As part of the Local Maternity System public health recommendations, it was also recognised that much can be done before, during and after pregnancy to support women and their babies.
In 2020, the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published a Thematic Report into SUDI. This report identified these deaths occur more frequently in families where there are certain vulnerabilities. In response, we have developed:
- 'Every Sleep a Safe Sleep’ - multiagency risk minimisation guidance
- Safer Sleep Protective Factors Tool for Parent/Carer
- Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) Risk Minimisation Tool for Professionals
- Safer Sleep facilitator’s pack
- Safer Sleep participant’s pack
Copyright disclaimer: West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership has produced the Every Sleep a Safe Sleep multi-agency training, SUDI Guidance and Risk Minimisation Tools. The training and resources could act as a catalyst for change at a local, regional, and national level and potentially reduce SUDI deaths. You are welcome to use these resources at place. However, in order to prevent misinterpretation and/or information being taken out of context, please do not alter or modify the presentation and resources in any way.
Train the trainer
'Train the trainer' sessions offer training, guidance and tools to frontline practitioners working with a family where there is a child aged 12 months or under. We encourage health visitors, midwives, police, social workers, community nursery nurses, family support workers, GP practices and those working in the voluntary sector, early years, housing, children’s centres and children’s safeguarding partnerships to find out more. For more information please contact Janet Smethurst, Team Leader, on: janet.smethurst@locala.org.uk.
Evaluation
After each webinar, we'll ask attendees to fill in this survey to get feedback which will help us to make improvements in the future.
Here's a flavour of what people are saying:
Impact on practice
Family support lead: "We've never felt equipped to give this advice to parents and now thanks to this initiative we are able to have these discussions."
Nursing director: "Incredible piece of work. This will change lives."
Nursery provider: "We can now make sure we provide a safe sleep environment for the babies in our care and also have conversations with families about safer sleep."
Community nursery nurse: "I feel confident now to give this advice, knowing that I'm not getting it wrong."
Social worker: "We are using the tool on the child protection plan and the parents really understand our concerns."
Health visitor: "This has completely changed my practice. Parents are now asking if I want to see where baby is sleeping (or going to sleep) and they are really valuing the discussions."
Police officer: "Every police officer who joins the force will receive the safer sleep training. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to make a difference. We now have the information to have effective conversations with families."
Empowering patients
"This is great. I live in West Yorkshire and I was lucky my health visitor went over bedsharing when I was having a difficult time early on and was worried about falling asleep during night feeds."
"I never got this information with my first two so I lied about bedsharing back then."
"Having the knowledge and info. so I could make an informed decision, make the bed safe and not feel ashamed for bedsharing helped me."
"We talked about sleep products. I wasn't aware the ones I'd bought were not safe. I'm so grateful to her as this could have ended very badly."
"I was able to discuss bedsharing openly and honestly with my health visitor because she wasn't judgemental and gave me information about how to make my bed safer for him."
Empowering trainers
"I have gained knowledge and feel confident in being a facilitator and passing this information on. The tools are really useful to support with the information I will be providing to others and using with families."
"I feel I will be able to support and educate families and professionals more effectively using the risk minimisation tool."
"The training was really excellent thank you - it has really made me reflect on how we can improve our professional practice."