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Showing results for tags 'Midwife'.
Found 223 results
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News ArticleThousands of complaints made against nurses and midwives were rejected by the watchdog without investigation last year as it battles a huge backlog amid concerns rogue staff are being left unchecked. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has rejected hundreds more cases a year since 2018, including 339 where nurses faced a criminal charge, 18 for alleged sexual offences and 599 over allegations of violence in 2022-23, according to data shared exclusively with The Independent. The new figures come after The Independent revealed shocking allegations that nurses and midwives accused of serious sexual, physical and racial abuse are being allowed to keep working because whistleblowers are being ignored and that the NMC was failing to tackle internal reports of alleged racism. And now, a new internal document, obtained by The Independent, reveals more staff have come forward to raise concerns since our expose. Former Victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird KC said the backlog of complaints was “worryingly high” and called for urgent action to tackle it. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 October 2023
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News ArticleHospitals are still promoting a “natural birth is best” philosophy – despite a succession of maternity scandals highlighting the dangers of the approach. A Telegraph investigation has found a number of trusts continuing to push women towards “normal” births – meaning that caesarean sections and other interventions are discouraged. On Saturday, the Health Secretary has expressed concern about the revelation, vowing to raise the matter with senior officials. Guidelines for the NHS make it categorically clear that a woman seeking a caesarean section should be supported in her choice, after “an informed discussion about the options”. Maternity services were last year warned by health chiefs to take care in the language they used, amid concern about “bias” towards natural births. The warning from maternity officials followed concern that women were being left in pain and fear, with their preferences routinely ignored. The findings come 18 months after Dame Donna Ockenden published a scathing report into maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, which warned that a focus on natural birth put women in danger. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 23 September 2023
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Content ArticleDuring pregnancy, and up to one year after birth, one in five women will experience mental health issues, ranging from anxiety and depression to more severe illness. For those women experiencing mental ill-health, barriers often exist preventing them from accessing care, including variation in availability of service, care, and treatment. These are often worsened by cultural stigma, previous trauma, deprivation, and discrimination. This document by the Royal College of Midwives outlines recommendations to ensure that women are offered, and can access, the right support at the right time during their perinatal journey.
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Content Article.As healthcare organisations continually strive to improve, there is a growing recognition of the importance of establishing a culture of safety. This handbook was published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland to support NHS board maternity services to: understand the importance of safety culture. undertake a patient safety climate survey. understand what the survey results are telling them. develop an improvement plan to address areas that have been highlighted. It includes: the Maternity Services Patient Safety Survey. template letters for NHS boards to adapt for local use. an example improvement plan template.
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Content ArticleOn the 20 February 2019 an investigation commenced into the death of Bethan Naomi Harris who was born on the 16 November 2018 at the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Bethan Naomi Harris died at Shooting Star Hospice on the 26 November 2018. Her mother's pregnancy had been uneventful. After admission to labour ward labour progressed very quickly indeed and Bethan sustained severe brain injury during delivery. Despite best efforts by the neonatal team she succumbed to her injuries. The Investigation concluded at the end of the Inquest on the 19 November 2019. The conclusion of the inquest was that the medical cause of Bethan's death was (1a) hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.
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Content Article
For Every Pregnancy campaign (NMC)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Maternity
For Every Pregnancy is a campaign by the Nursing & Midwifery Council. It aims to show that each pregnancy is unique, and whatever stage you're at, your midwife team should be right alongside you. The campaign includes posters and videos aimed at outlining the standards of care pregnant women and birthing people can expect and the importance of shared decision making. -
Content ArticleThis briefing was commissioned by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance who are dedicated to ensuring all women, babies and their families across the UK have access to compassionate care and high-quality support for their mental health during pregnancy and after birth. One woman in five experiences a mental health problem during pregnancy or after they have given birth. Maternal mental health problems can have a devastating impact on the women affected and their families. NICE guidance states that perinatal mental health problems always require a speedy and effective response, including rapid access to psychological therapies when they are needed. Integrated care systems (ICSs) have a unique opportunity to ensure that all women who need support for their mental health during the perinatal period get the right level of help at the right time, close to home.
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News Article
Negligence at Lancashire hospital caused boy permanent brain damage, court rules
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An 11-year-old boy suffered permanent brain damage after birth because of negligence by hospital midwives who then fabricated notes, a high court judge has ruled. Jayden Astley’s challenges in life include deafness, motor impairments, cognitive difficulties and behavioural difficulties, his lawyers said. After a five-day trial at the high court in Liverpool, Mr Justice Spencer ruled that staff at the Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire were negligent in their treatment of Jayden in 2012. The brain injury was caused by prolonged umbilical cord compression that resulted in acute profound hypoxia – lack of oxygen – sustained during the management of the birth, the court found. Midwives failed to accurately monitor Jayden’s heart rate when he was born and failed to identify his bradycardic, or slow, heart rate during delivery. The judge also found that some entries in notes were fabricated. In his judgment Spencer said it was agreed that all permanent damage to Jayden’s brain would have been avoided if he had been delivered three minutes earlier. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 August 2023 -
Content ArticleThis report by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) highlights the impact of midwifery staffing shortages on women. It looks at historical failures to invest appropriately in maternity services and talks about a mounting maternity crisis, drawing attention to Care Quality Commission inspections of maternity services that are identifying concerns around safety directly linked to staffing shortages. According to the report’s findings, if the number of NHS midwives in England had risen at the same pace as the overall health service workforce since the last general election, there would be no midwife shortage; there would be 3,100 more midwives in the NHS, rather than having a shortfall of 2,500 full-time midwives. The RCM published the results of a survey last month which showed that midwives give 100,000 hours of free labour to the NHS per week to ensure safe care for women. It also showed that staffing levels were repeatedly cited as cause for concern around the safety of care, and that midwives and maternity support workers are exhausted and burnt out.
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Content ArticleThe aim of the study was to explore the factors that affect the safety attitude and teamwork climate of Cyprus maternity units and Cypriot midwives. The study found that the safety climate in the maternity settings was negative across all six safety climate domains examined. The higher mean total score on team work and safety climate in the more experienced group of midwives is a predominant finding for the maternity units of Cyprus. It could be suggested that younger midwives need more support and teamwork practice, in a friendly environment, to enhance the safety and teamwork climate through experience and self-confidence.
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News ArticleNearly half of all NHS hospital maternity services covered so far by a national inspection programme have been rated as substandard, the Observer can reveal. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates health and care providers in England, began its maternity inspection programme last August after the Ockenden review into the Shropshire maternity scandal, which saw 300 babies left dead or brain damaged by inadequate NHS care. Of the services inspected under the programme, which focuses on safety and leadership, about two-thirds have been found to have insufficient staffing, including some services that were rated as good overall. Eleven services saw their rating fall from their previous inspection. Dr Suzanne Tyler of the Royal College of Midwives said: “Report after report has made a direct connection between staffing levels and safety, yet the midwife shortage is worsening. Midwives are desperately trying to plug the gaps – in England alone we estimate that midwives work around 100,000 extra unpaid hours a week to keep maternity services safe. This is clearly unsustainable and now is the time for the chancellor to put his hand in the Treasury pocket and give maternity services the funding that is so desperately needed.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 July 2023
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Content ArticleFounded by psychotherapist Rebecca Howard, ShinyMind's story has been a journey of creating an evidence-based mental health and wellbeing resource that people can trust to help them think well, feel well and be well.Rebecca believes everyone has the right to good mental health and access to support whenever they need it – and so ShinyMind’s journey began, to empower people, eradicate stigma and help as many people as we can shine their brightest.
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News Article
Maternity failures behind most big NHS payouts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than three quarters of all multimillion-pound NHS medical negligence payouts are the consequences of failures in maternity care, new figures show. In total, 364 patients or families received the highest-value compensation payments of at least £3.5 million after suing the NHS last year. Of those, 279 (77%) were maternity-related damages, according to figures from NHS Resolution. The large payouts have been offered to parents whose babies were stillborn or suffered avoidable life-changing disabilities or brain injuries. Maternity makes up the bulk of NHS compensation payments. There were more than 10,000 clinical negligence claims brought against the NHS in 2021-22, with a total value of more than £6 billion. Maternity accounted for 62% of payments, or £3.74 billion. When taking into account all cost of harm, including future periodic payments and legal costs, the cost of compensating mothers and their families rises to £8.2 billion a year. Analysis by The Times Health Commission found that this is more than twice the £3 billion spent by the NHS annually on maternity and neonatal services. Maternity claims have increased during the past decade amid a string of high-profile scandals and a shortage of midwives. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 12 June 2023 -
News Article
Inadequate maternity unit handed safety warning
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An NHS maternity department has been handed a warning notice by the health regulator because of safety failings. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it was taking the action over the James Paget Hospital in Norfolk to prevent patients coming to harm. Inspectors found the unit did not have enough staff to care for women and babies and keep them safe. The maternity department has been deemed "inadequate" by the CQC, which meant the overall rating for the hospital has now dropped from "good" to "requires improvement". Between June and November 2022 there were 30 maternity "red flags" that the inspectors found, of which more than half related to delays or cancellations to time-critical activity. In one instance, there was a delay in recognising a serious health problem and taking the appropriate action. The report also highlighted the service did not have enough maternity staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience "to keep women safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment". Read full story Source: BBC News, 31 May 2023 -
News ArticleThe Royal College of Midwives says the need for a maternity strategy in Northern Ireland has gone beyond urgent and is now critical. The warning comes as the RCM is publishing a report on Northern Ireland's maternity services at Stormont on Tuesday. The report will highlight growing challenges as more women across the country with additional health needs are being cared for by maternity services. The RCM report will outline three steps to deliver high quality and safe services for women and families. Develop, publish and fund the implementation of a new maternity and neonatal strategy for Northern Ireland. Sustain the number of places for new student midwives at their recent, higher level. Focus on retaining the midwives in the HSC. Read full story Source: ITV News, 30 May 2023
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Content ArticleIn March 2019, NHS England published Saving Babies Lives version 2, which included information for providers and commissioners of maternity care on how to reduce perinatal mortality across England. One element of this recommends the appointment of a fetal monitoring lead with the responsibility of improving the standard of fetal monitoring. The aim of the fetal monitoring lead is to support staff working on the labour ward to provide high quality intrapartum risk assessments and accurate CTG interpretation and should contribute to building and sustaining a safety culture on the labour ward with all staff committed to continuous improvement. The importance of fetal monitoring was highlighted again in the Ockenden Report, published December 2020. The report recommended, as an essential action, that all maternity services must appoint a dedicated lead midwife and lead obstetrician, both with demonstrated expertise, to focus on and champion best practice in fetal monitoring. Monitoring May is a month long learning event based around fetal monitoring, human factors, maternity safety and shared learning. The East Midlands Academic Health Sciences Network has shared the recording of Monitoring May’s discussions and presentations.
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News Article
Work pressures driving nurses and midwives away
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Work pressures are driving thousands of nurses and midwives a year away from the profession, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) says. The NMC said retention was becoming a major concern despite an overall growth in the register. Its annual report found 27,000 professionals had left the register in the UK in the year to the end of March. While retirement appeared to be the most common reason for leaving, health and exhaustion were cited as the next. NMC Chief Executive Andrea Sutcliffe said: "There are clear warnings workforce pressures are driving people away. "Many are leaving earlier than planned, because of burnout and exhaustion, lack of support from colleagues, concerns about quality of care and workload and staffing levels." Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 May 2023 -
Content ArticleInstitutional racism within the United Kingdom's (UK) Higher Education (HE) sector, particularly nurse and midwifery education, has lacked empirical research, critical scrutiny, and serious discussion. This paper focuses on the racialised experiences of nurses and midwives during their education in UK universities, including their practice placements. It explores the emotional, physical, and psychological impacts of these experiences. The study concludes that the endemic culture of racism in nurse and midwifery education is a fundamental factor that must be recognised and called out. The study argues that universities and health care trusts need to be accountable for preparing all students to challenge racism and provide equitable learning opportunities that cover the objectives to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) requirements to avoid significant experiences of exclusion and intimidation.
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Content Article
Martin Hogan, Lead Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, tells us about the PNA training programme and the impact and improvements it can have on both staff and patient safety. He shares his own personal development from taking the programme, how he has used the skills learnt to educate and support his colleagues, and explains why he is championing the PNA to others and has set up a network of PNAs. -
Content ArticleDespite being the employees who often have the most direct contact with service users, NHS clinical support workers, such as healthcare assistants and maternity support workers, have long experienced a range of barriers to their effective deployment and development. These include a lack of standardised entry requirements, inconsistent task deployment and truncated career progression pathways. These have a detrimental impact on service delivery, including patient satisfaction. The degree to which local employers are able to determine the recruitment, deployment and development of support workers is a key reason why these issues endure; however, this article suggests that a deeper reason is the existence of a segmented labour market in the NHS, with support workers existing in a secondary market. This duality resides in the socio-economic differences between registered and non-registered staff. Recent NHS support workforce strategies present an opportunity to finally address the issues support staff face.
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News Article
Regulator withdraws midwifery programme accreditation
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has withdrawn its accreditation of the midwifery programme at a Kent university due to fears over quality and safety. The regulator highlighted concerns that Canterbury Christ Church University students were not gaining the expertise needed to deliver safe, effective and kind care. An NMC director said the decision was made in the “best interests of women, babies, and families”. The university said the decision had “devastating consequences” for their student midwives. “Our absolute priority is the wellbeing of our students and staff, and ensuring that our students can continue to complete their studies and begin their future careers, to be the high quality, much needed midwives that this region needs,” a university spokesperson said. Sam Foster, NMC executive director of professional practice, said while the decision would impact students and the local workforce, the regulator's role was to uphold the high standards that “women and families have the right to expect”. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 May 2023 -
News ArticleMaternity services at a trust in Staffordshire have been rated as 'requires significant improvement' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust in Stoke-on-Trent must now make urgent changes by June 30th 2023, to ensure patients are cared for safely. It follows an inspection in March where inspectors said staff did not have enough effective systems in place to ensure patients were looked after to the standard they should be. Staff also failed to implement a prioritisation process to ensure delays in the induction of labour were monitored and effectively managed, according to the review of services. The CQC said midwives evaluating patients and handling triage processes did not effectively assess, document and respond to the ongoing risks associated with safety through triage. Read full story Source: ITV News, 28 April 2023
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News Article
Herpes deaths: NHS trust lied about virus links, inquest hears
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The mother of a young woman who died with herpes said she was "disgusted" with an NHS trust which "lied" about the potential cause of the virus. Kim Sampson and Samantha Mulcahy died with herpes after the same obstetrician at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust carried out their caesareans. Yvette Sampson's daughter had been "fit and healthy" until she gave birth on 3 May 2018, an inquest has heard. She said the trust had lied about links between the two mothers' deaths. They were treated by the same surgeon and midwife six weeks apart, neither of whom were tested for herpes, the inquest in Maidstone was told. Ms Sampson said her daughter had been "in agony" from 3 May when she gave birth to her second child, until she died on 22 May. She told the inquest she had received "poor treatment" by midwives at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate, which she felt also "contributed" to her daughter's death. Ms Sampson was initially denied a Caesarean and instead told to push for almost three hours, despite repeatedly telling midwives that "something wasn't right" and "clinging to the bed in agony", her mother said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 April 2023 -
News Article
Northern Ireland new model of care for pregnant women launching
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Anew model of care which the Public Health Agency (PHA) say will 'improve maternity services for women and babies in Northern Ireland' is being launched. The new model, which will see women receive support from the same midwifery team during pregnancy, birth and in the early days after birth, is being rolled out across all Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts in the coming months. ‘Continuity of Midwifery Carer’ (CoMC) is a new model of care for women throughout their childbirth journey "that will provide positive clinical outcomes and higher care satisfaction", the PHA said. Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland, Maria McIlgorm said: “This is a very positive development for maternity services in Northern Ireland. There is a clear evidence base behind the Continuity of Midwifery Carer model which shows that when a woman knows their midwife it can make a significant difference to their experience and outcome. “This woman and family-centred model of care will mean that women across Northern Ireland using our maternity services will receive support from the same dedicated midwifery team throughout their pregnancy, birth and postnatal period.” Read full story Source: Belfast Live, 12 April 2023 -
Event
NHS England: Time-critical medication webinar
Sam posted an event in Community Calendar
untilThe webinar will be aimed at all Nursing and Midwifery professionals in all healthcare settings. It will look at time-critical medication and improving practice in this area, with a particular focus on medication for Parkinson’s Disease and Diabetes. The webinar will draw on expertise in Pharmacy, Nursing, Midwifery and other specialists such as Parkinson’s UK (charity) and their patient led campaign, which links to the focus on Personalised Care in the NHS Long Term Plan. There will be presentations from patient representatives who will share their experience of receiving time critical medication in healthcare settings and experts in this area. The design of the webinar has taken a collaborative approach - with the co-design taking place between NHS England, subject matter experts, clinicians and patient representatives. The codesign process will involve nursing, medical and pharmacy staff in discussion and feedback on processes for safely delivering time critical medication. This will educate staff and help to improve processes through the involvement of both staff and patients. Reserve your place
