SOME health workers are uninformed about infant mortality, says a councillor.

Clr Ann Raistrick presented a report on the issue to Kirklees Council last night.

She led a special panel which investigated why infant mortality was twice the national average in some parts of the district.

The Cleckheaton Lib Dem said: “We found it quite disturbing that some health professionals didn’t have the facts on infant mortality.”

Clr Raistrick outlined the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for Health Inequalities.

She said: “There needs to be recording and analysis of the rate of smoking among pregnant woman, because the information isn’t always collected.

“Booking in with a midwife should be by 12 weeks at the latest because the first three months of pregnancy is by far the most important period.

“However, some women aren’t booking in until 18 weeks.”

The panel reported that in 2005 some 37 babies in Kirklees died before their first birthday, of whom 24 were in north Kirklees.

In Dewsbury and Batley the infant mortality rate is twice the national average.

Clr Raistrick said collecting evidence was “a little traumatic at times.”

But she added: “I’m quite optimistic that we can crack this problem.

“We have to do something about this.”