Maternity Care in the UK is once again under the spotlight

Delays in care

Whilst each time promises are made to invest more, improve the toxic working culture and recruit and train more staff, failings in care continue. The Panorama programme heard from Gloucestershire NHS Trust whistleblowers who said they weren’t listened to after raising concerns about two midwives and that an increasing number of complaints about inadequate and unsafe staffing levels in midwifery, which had caused delays in care, were also largely ignored with the Trust being more concerned with reputation management. With any delay in care, opportunities to escalate risk and spot when things are going wrong are often missed and in the case of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, this contributed to the avoidable deaths of babies and an increase in maternal deaths.

Shortage of staff

Panorama analysed figures published by the Trust and found that in the first half of 2023, there had been a shortage of more than 50 midwifery staff. However, the staffing issues in Gloucestershire are reflected across England. There has been a decline of 20% of midwives since 2010 and The Royal College of Midwives says that an extra 2,500 midwives are urgently needed.

In the NHS, if staffing levels in maternity units fall to unsafe levels, a ‘red flag’ is raised, which then alerts the hospital management. Of the 125 Trusts in England and Wales, a third of them (43) provided data for 2020, 2021 and 2022. This showed that the average number of red flag incidents rose from 107 to 175 – an increase of 64%.

Change on the horizon?

With all this shocking news, it’s good to hear that there is something more positive on the horizon. On 9 January 2024, the all-party parliamentary group on birth trauma launched an inquiry, led by the Conservative MP, Theo Clarke (who needed emergency surgery after the birth of her daughter in 2022), and Labour’s Rosie Duffield.

The inquiry is inviting written submissions from parents who have lived through experiences of birth trauma and professionals who work in maternity to provide details of their experiences which may help to change NHS policy. It’s open to everyone in the UK and the closing date for submissions is Tuesday 6 February. If you have been affected by birth trauma, you can send your submission as a Word document to inquiry@birthtraumaassociation.org.uk

Once written and oral evidence has been gathered, the policy report, which will include practical policy recommendations for the UK Government, is expected to be published in April 2024. It is hoped that it will help to reduce the occurrence of birth-related trauma going forwards.

Rachael Flanagan, Head of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury at Alsters Kelley said, ‘Whilst a national enquiry to tackle failings in maternity care is now required to deal with the repeated poor standards of care received by women and their babies, the birth trauma enquiry which is reviewing traumatic births is welcomed and a step in the right direction. Every year between 25,000 and 30,000 women across the country are affected by birth trauma. Unsurprisingly many never talk about it, but it can lead to women experiencing PTSD and many deciding not to have more children in the future.”

Rachael continued. “Every pregnant woman should have access to safe, effective and truly personalised maternity care. Both myself, and my colleague Senior Solicitor Haidee Vedy, have a huge amount of experience in representing women who have suffered a birth injury. If you have received substandard care, please get in touch. As medical negligence lawyers, it’s our job to recover necessary compensation for victims of negligence who may have suffered physical and/or psychological injury.”

Free initial meeting for support and advice

If you have any concerns about the treatment either you or your baby have received and would like help or advice, please contact Rachael Flanagan on 01926 356030 or email rachael.flanagan@alsterskelley.com