An SNP MP has spoken about how he will remember until his "dying day" watching his daughter turn blue in an incubator.
David Linden, who represents Glasgow East, was speaking today in favour of the Neonatal Bill introduced by his party colleague Stuart McDonald.
If backed by MPs the legislation would introduce paid leave for parents with a baby in neonatal care.
Linden insisted it would have “a massive impact on the families of those 90,000 to 100,000 babies who are every year born in the UK and spend time in neonatal care”.
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He told MPs both of his children were born premature and "the real worry that I was going through that time, actually in both cases for both of my children, my parental leave was well up by the time we got to hospital".
He added: “In the case of my daughter, Jessica, who is now three years old, she spent roughly the first year of her life on oxygen and many, many weeks and months in the neonatal intensive care unit.
"I still remember very vividly and well until my dying day, watching my daughter turn blue in an incubator, with noises, alarms lights all going off and neonatal nurses rushing to resuscitate her.
"The idea that we as legislators would expect our constituents to be at work when that happens or, worse, they will go and do a shift after that, it really is I think something that we are putting right today because that is a historic wrong."
SNP MP Stuart McDonald said his Bill would create a new statutory leave and pay entitlement for the parents of babies receiving neonatal care.
If the Bill is passed, he said: “Employed parents who find themselves in this immensely challenging situation in the future will know that as a minimum they are entitled to time off work to care for their babies.”
“This Bill will allow parents to have protected time off work to care for their children in such a difficult time,” he said, adding “it’s intended that eligible parents will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave on top of their other parental entitlements”.
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill would introduce a new entitlement to parents who qualify for statutory maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay.
Qualifying parents would be entitled to additional paid leave from work if their baby spends more than seven or more consecutive days being cared for in a health setting before they reach 28 days of life.
Leave and pay would be available for the duration of their baby's care, for up to 12 weeks.
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