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Maternity Services: Parents

Asked by Dr Caroline JohnsonConservativeDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 5 February 2026UIN 84373

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data he holds on the number of bedrooms available for parents with a baby on the neonatal unit by (a) Trust and (b) neonatal units.

Answered by Karin Smyth

The results from NHS England’s Maternity and Neonatal Infrastructure Review, commissioned in 2023, showed that there are 747 parental accommodation rooms within neonatal units nationally. NHS England does not hold data on the standard of these rooms. However, there is undoubtedly variation in the provision of parental accommodation at neonatal units across England and we know that not all maternity hospitals are currently able to offer adequate accommodation for families due to the historic undercapitalisation across the National Health Service. A summary of the findings report is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/maternity-and-neonatal-infrastructure-review-findings/#:~:text=Against%20a%20backdrop%20of%20a,serious%20risk%20of%20imminent%20breakdown.

Data on the number of parental accommodation rooms is attached.

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