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Found 456 results
  1. News Article
    The moment her newborn son Sebastian was handed to her, Catherine McNamara knew something was terribly wrong. His tiny hands were deformed, unnaturally twisted and facing in the wrong direction. One was missing a thumb. A few days later, the couple were devastated as doctors told them Sebastian’s deformities were permanent — and had been caused by the drug McNamara had been taking to control her epilepsy. Like thousands of women, McNamara had been told her epilepsy medicine, sodium valproate, was safe to take during pregnancy. “They told me everything would be fine,” she said. Sodium valproate, which was given to women with epilepsy for decades without proper warnings, has caused autism, learning difficulties and physical deformities in up to 20,000 babies in Britain. Yet despite a 2020 report that criticised the failure over four decades to inform women about the dangers, doctors are still not properly warning women of the risks. According to the latest data, published in March, sodium valproate was prescribed to 247 pregnant women between April 2018 and September 2021. An investigation by The Sunday Times has found that the drug is still being handed out to women in plain packets with the information leaflets missing, or with stickers over the warnings. The government is refusing to offer any compensation to those affected by sodium valproate, despite an independent review by Baroness Cumberlege concluding in 2020 that families should be given financial redress. The former health secretary Jeremy Hunt says doctors should now be banned from prescribing the drug to pregnant women — and that the families affected by it must be properly compensated. He has compared the case to the scandal of the anti-morning-sickness drug thalidomide, which caused deformities in thousands of babies after it was licensed in the UK in the 1950s. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Sunday Times, 16 April 2022
  2. News Article
    NHS bosses have written to hospitals telling them to stop using language that implies a bias against caesarean sections when advertising jobs in maternity services. A recent report into an NHS maternity scandal found that a focus on “normal birth” had played a key role in babies dying or being born disabled. Women at the Shrewsbury and Telford trust were forced to undergo traumatic natural births when they should have been offered surgical intervention. However, even since its publication, trusts have published job adverts looking for a member of staff “to help us promote normality” or saying that they are “proud of our commitment to normal birth”. In a letter sent, Dr Matthew Jolly, NHS clinical director for maternity, and Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, chief midwifery officer, ask maternity services “to review the language that they are using about their services, in job adverts, and any other information designed to support decision-making on pregnancy and birth choices”. The letter continues: “There have been a number of concerns raised about the language used in some NHS trust maternity service job adverts and materials — phrases that suggest bias toward one mode of birth. “The NHS has a duty to provide safe and personalised care to women and families according to best practice guidance informed by evidence and the changes that are taking place in society, midwifery, maternity, and neonatal care services. “It is a fundamental requirement of a maternity multidisciplinary team to inform and listen to every woman, respect their views and help them to try and achieve the type of birth they aspire to.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 15 April 2022
  3. News Article
    Tens of thousands of women in the UK may be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after miscarriages each year, a leading researcher warns. Prof Tom Bourne estimates the number affected could run to 45,000 annually. But he says most are not given prompt psychological support that could help prevent PTSD developing. The Miscarriage Association says there is an urgent need for better access to talking and other psychological therapies for those affected. At present, most women have to ask for help themselves rather than support being in place. Prof Bourne believes there needs to be more research into other ways of helping people experiencing loss. His team is trying out a variety of new approaches - including virtual reality - to help address the issue. One idea his team is experimenting with is offering women virtual reality headsets during miscarriage procedures. It builds on previous work that shows VR headsets can help reduce pain during some medical procedures. Researcher Dr Nina Parker says the aim is "to transport them to sort of a more calm, virtual reality world for distraction from the pain and anxiety during the procedure". She adds: "There is nothing that we are ever going to be able to do that takes away from the loss and the trauma of losing pregnancy and having a miscarriage. "But if we can do everything that we can to minimise any additional trauma we might be adding to in the interactions that are had within the hospital, then we are obligated to do that." Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 April 2022
  4. News Article
    The government must stop treating women “like children” and permanently allow at home early medical abortions, MPs and health professionals have said. Abortion rules changed after Covid hit the UK in March 2020, with the government allowing abortion pills to be sent via post to be taken at home after a phone consultation. The new system - referred to as “telemedicine” - was due to run out on 25 March but the government declared a six-month extension for at home early medical abortions earlier in the month. MPs are now set to vote on whether to make telemedicine abortion services permanent on Wednesday. Clare Murphy, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), told The Independent: “We welcome the vote. MPs have the opportunity to prevent the recriminalisation of women who use Stella Creasy, a Labour MP and campaigner for abortion rights, is one of many MPs calling for telemedicine abortion services to be made permanent. “Despite the best attempts to scare, telemedicine has been shown to be safe, secure and preferable for many patients for a variety of reasons - it’s time to trust women and ensure they can make the right choices for themselves when it comes to their own medical care”, she said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 March 2022
  5. News Article
    The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has called for the immediate suspension of charging for NHS maternity care for migrant women because members say this government policy is harming the health of pregnant women and their babies. It is the first time the health professionals’ body has issued a position statement on this issue. The charity Maternity Action and the Royal College of Midwives have long expressed concern about the impact of NHS charging on this group of women. Charging forms a key plank of the Home Office’s hostile environment for migrants. The government says the charging policy is in place to deter health tourism but medics treating migrant pregnant women say there is little evidence that previously free NHS maternity care for all attracted health tourists. According to the 2019 MBRRACE-UK confidential inquiry into maternal deaths, three women were found to have died between 2015 and 2017 who may have been reluctant to access maternity care due to fears about charging and impact on their immigration status. Dr Brenda Kelly, an NHS consultant obstetrician working in Oxford, treats many pregnant migrant women. She is calling for the barriers to them accessing maternity care to be removed urgently. She described the case of one migrant woman who arrived in A&E shortly before delivering a stillborn baby. The woman had been fearful of coming forward for antenatal care although she was suffering from multiple, pregnancy-related health problems. “I hope I never have to hear cries like that woman’s cries ever again,” said Kelly. “The way to safeguard these women is to build up trust. If they are landed with a bill of several thousand pounds they will disengage. They are not health tourists, they are desperate. The commitment to maternal health equity means ending charges for maternity care. The time for action is now.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 March 2022
  6. News Article
    Pregnant women with suspected pre-eclampsia will now be offered a test on the NHS to detect the condition. Pre-eclampsia affects some women, usually during the second half of pregnancy or soon after their baby is born. It can lead to serious complications if it is not picked up during maternity appointments, with early signs including high blood pressure and protein in the urine. In some cases, women can develop a severe headache, vision problems such as blurring or flashing, pain just below the ribs, swelling and vomiting. Tests have been available to help rule out the condition but midwives will now use tests designed to pick up a positive diagnosis. In new draft guidance, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said midwives could use one of four blood tests to help diagnose suspected preterm pre-eclampsia. Jeanette Kusel, the acting director for medtech and digital at NICE, said: “These tests represent a step-change in the management and treatment of pre-eclampsia. New evidence presented to the committee shows that these tests can help successfully diagnose pre-eclampsia, alongside clinical information for decision-making, rather than just rule it out. “This is extremely valuable to doctors and expectant mothers as now they can have increased confidence in their treatment plans and preparing for a safe birth.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 March 2022
  7. News Article
    Banning home abortions could increase risks to women and waste NHS resources, leading doctors have warned. The “pills by post” system is set to be dismantled in England by September, having been introduced as a temporary measure at the start of the pandemic. However, the plans, disclosed by The Telegraph last month, have sparked outrage from medical organisations and women’s groups. The decision by ministers to return to pre-pandemic abortion systems in England has sparked fierce debate and could be subject to a vote in Parliament on Wednesday. Writing for The Telegraph, the leaders of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have urged ministers to reconsider their intentions. They said that the current system has meant terminations take place earlier in the pregnancy, reducing the risk of complications, and that the most vulnerable women, including domestic abuse victims, are able to get help. Baroness Sugg of Coldharbour, a former operations chief to David Cameron, said that the UK should “stand strongly against the rollback of women’s rights”. She has also tabled an amendment to the Health and Care Bill seeking to maintain the current system in England. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 15 March 2022
  8. News Article
    Women and NHS staff have warned that mothers are being “forgotten” after giving birth, with a staff crisis only making matters worse. Kate, a 32-year-old from Leeds, says she has been left in “excruciating” pain for nine years after horrifying postnatal care. Other women have told The Independent stories of care ranging from “disjointed” to “disastrous”. It comes as midwives warn there are “horrendous” shortages in community services, which have prevented women from accessing adequate antenatal and postnatal care. Mary Ross-Davie, the Royal College of Midwives’ director for professional midwifery, said that with each Covid wave midwifery staffing has been hit worse than the last. To provide safe care during labour, antenatal and postnatal care, teams are sent into wards putting “huge pressure on care”. She said this could mean clinicians end up “missing things”, such as women struggling emotionally after birth. The warnings over poor antenatal and postnatal care come after experts at the University of Oxford said in November there were “stark” gaps in postnatal care, despite the highest number of deaths being recorded in the postnatal period. Dr Sunita Sharma, lead consultant for postnatal care at Chelsea and Westminster Trust, said that when NHS maternity inpatient staffing overall is in crisis “often the first place staff are moved from is the postnatal ward, which is clinically very appropriate, but it can come at a cost of putting more pressure on postnatal care for other mothers”. Dr Sharma said postnatal teams were doing their best to improve services but need national drivers and funding to sustain improvement. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 March 2022
  9. News Article
    Pregnant women should be asked how much alcohol they are drinking and the answer recorded in their medical notes, new "priority advice" for the NHS says. The advice, from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is designed to help spot problem drinking that can harm babies. Infants with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) can be left with lifelong problems. The safest approach during pregnancy is to abstain from alcohol completely. The more someone drinks while pregnant, the higher the chance of FASD - and there is no proven "safe" level of alcohol. But the risk of harming the baby is "likely to be low if you have drunk only small amounts of alcohol before you knew you were pregnant or during pregnancy", the Department of Health says. An earlier draft of the recommendations for NHS staff in England and Wales suggested transferring data on a woman's alcohol intake to her child's medical notes - but this has now been dropped, following concern women who needed help might hide their drinking. The Royal College of Midwives spokeswoman Lia Brigante said: "As there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the RCM believes it is appropriate and important to advise women that the safest approach is to avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy and advocates for this. "We are pleased to see that the recommendation to record alcohol consumption and to then transfer this to a child's record has been reconsidered. "This had the potential to disrupt or prevent the development of a trusting relationship between a woman and her midwife." Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 March 2022
  10. News Article
    The World Health Organization has published new guidelines on abortion aimed at tackling the unsafe care that leads to up to 39 000 maternal deaths and millions of women being admitted to hospital with complications every year. When carried out using a method recommended by WHO, abortion is a safe procedure. Tragically, however, only half of all abortions take place under such conditions, with unsafe abortions causing around 39 000 deaths globally. Most of these deaths are in lower-income countries – with over 60% in Africa and 30% in Asia – and among those living in the most vulnerable situations. “Being able to obtain safe abortion is a crucial part of health care,” said Craig Lissner, acting Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO. “Nearly every death and injury that results from unsafe abortion is entirely preventable. That’s why we recommend women and girls can access abortion and family planning services when they need them.” Evidence shows that restricting access to abortions does not reduce the number of abortions that take place. In fact, restrictions are more likely to drive women and girls towards unsafe procedures. In countries where abortion is most restricted, only 1 in 4 abortions are safe, compared to nearly 9 in 10 in countries where the procedure is broadly legal. “It’s vital that an abortion is safe in medical terms,” said Dr Bela Ganatra, Head of WHO’s Prevention of Unsafe Abortion Unit. “But that’s not enough on its own. As with any other health services, abortion care needs to respect the decisions and needs of women and girls, ensuring that they are treated with dignity and without stigma or judgement. No one should be exposed to abuse or harms like being reported to the police or put in jail because they have sought or provided abortion care." “The evidence is clear – if you want to prevent unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions, you need to provide women and girls with a comprehensive package of sexuality education, accurate family planning information and services, and access to quality abortion care,” Dr Ganatra added. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ. 9 March 2022
  11. News Article
    Tens of thousands of new mothers have been left feeling “hopeless” and “isolated” during the pandemic, with the NHS seeing record numbers of referrals to mental health services. Requests for help from new, expectant and bereaved mothers jumped by 40% in 2021 compared with 2019, analysis by The Independent has revealed. NHS data shows mental health referrals hit an all-time high of 23,673 in November last year, with average monthly referrals for the whole of 2021 running 21% higher than the year before, jumping from 17,226 to 21,990. Among those affected when support systems were “suddenly” removed in March 2020 was Leanne, a woman who had her second child just before the pandemic and experienced a mental health crisis. She told The Independent how she had struggled following the first lockdown. “I just thought, Oh God, my recovery is going to stop, how am I going to get better now because I’ve got no support – I’m on my own with it,” she said. “I was [also] anticipating the lockdown … in addition to the nursery closing, and I was getting quite anxious about that, and feeling quite hopeless. The pressure piled on me was enormous, and I had no one who could see me or support me." Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, the shadow minister for mental health, said the figures uncovered by The Independent were “extremely concerning” and that pregnant women had been “forgotten about through the pandemic”. The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead for perinatal mental health services, Dr Joanne Black, said the NHS pandemic recovery plan had lost sight of women in pregnancy and children under two years old, who have been “disproportionately affected”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 February 2022
  12. News Article
    A new pregnancy screening tool cuts the risk of baby loss among women from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds to the same level as white women, research suggests. The app calculates a woman's individual risk of pregnancy problems. In a study of 20,000 pregnant women, baby death rates in ethnic groups were three times lower than normal when the tool was used. Experts say the new approach can help reduce health inequalities. The screening tool is already in use at St George's Hospital in London and is being tried out at three other maternity units in England, with hopes it could be rolled out to 20 centres within two years. Researchers from Tommy's National Centre for Maternity Improvement, led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives, developed the new tool. Professor Basky Thilaganathan, who led the research team at St George's Hospital, said the new approach could "almost eliminate a large source of the healthcare inequality facing black, Asian and minority ethnic pregnant women". "We can personalise care for you and reduce the chances of having a small baby, pre-eclampsia and losing your baby," he said. The current system of a tick-box checklist to assess pregnancy risk has been around for 70 years, and is limited. The new digital tool, which uses an algorithm to calculate a woman's personal risk, can detect high-risk women more accurately and prevent complications in pregnancy, the researchers say. Both pregnant women and maternity staff can upload information on their pregnancy and how they are feeling to the app during antenatal appointments and at other times. Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said it was "unacceptable" that black, Asian and minority ethnic women faced huge inequalities on maternity outcomes. "The digital tool provides a practical way to support women with personalised care during pregnancy and make informed decisions about birth. Read full story Read Tommy's press release Source: BBC News, 28 February 2022
  13. News Article
    Pregnancy-related deaths among US mothers climbed higher in the pandemic’s first year, continuing a decades-long trend that disproportionately affects Black people, according to a new government report. Overall in 2020, there were almost 24 deaths per 100,000 births, or 861 deaths total, numbers that reflect mothers dying during pregnancy, childbirth or the year after. The rate was 20 per 100,000 in 2019. Among Black people, there were 55 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, almost triple the rate for white people. The report from the National Center for Health Statistics does not include reasons for the trend and researchers said they have not fully examined how Covid-19, which increases risks for severe illness in pregnancy, might have contributed. The coronavirus could have had an indirect effect. Many people put off medical care early in the pandemic for fear of catching the virus, and virus surges strained the healthcare system, which could have had an impact on pregnancy-related deaths, said Eugene Declercq, a professor and maternal death researcher at Boston University School of Public Health. He called the high rates “terrible news” and noted that the US has continually fared worse in maternal mortality than many other developed countries. Reasons for those disparities are not included in the data, but experts have blamed many factors including differences in rates of underlying health conditions, poor access to quality healthcare and structural racism. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 February 2022
  14. News Article
    The NHS has abandoned targets that encouraged hospitals to pursue “normal births”, over fears for the safety of mothers and babies. Maternity units were told in a letter to stop using caesarean section rates to assess their performance. It comes after repeated scandals in maternity units, blamed in part on a focus on pursuing natural births at the expense of safety. The letter from Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, NHS England’s chief midwife, and Dr Matthew Jolly, the national clinical director for maternity, instructed “all maternity services to stop using total caesarean section rates as a means of performance management”. It added: “We are concerned by the potential for services to pursue targets that may be clinically inappropriate and unsafe in individual cases." A final report into the deaths of dozens of babies at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust will be published next month. It is expected to be highly critical. The midwife leading the inquiry, Donna Ockenden, has said women “felt pressured to have a normal birth” at the trust, adding: “There was a multi-professional, not midwife-led, focus on normal birth pretty much at any cost.” Hayley Coates, 29, lost her son Kaylan after staff at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust ignored her pleas for a caesarean section in March 2018. A coroner ruled that neglect contributed to Kaylan’s death. He suffered a fractured skull when he was delivered with forceps and was starved of oxygen. Coates, a mother of three, said she welcomed the NHS England letter, adding: “I was just ignored when I asked multiple times for a caesarean section. I was told repeatedly: ‘You will have this baby naturally, you don’t want to go to theatre.’ If I had gone to theatre many hours before, my baby wouldn’t have died. They have a duty of care, and the mother’s wishes are supposed to be priority.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 20 February 2022
  15. News Article
    Campaigners found to have been harmed by medical products have written to the health secretary warning that government inaction is "causing pain and destroying lives" by ignoring review recommendations. Some 18 months ago, an independent review recommended financial help for people damaged by some products and drugs that had been prescribed by UK doctors. The government - which set up the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review in the first place - has chosen to ignore several of its recommendations. Alleged victims of vaginal mesh, and the drugs valproate and Primodos, have written to Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Maria Caulfield to say they feel ignored. The letter states: "Our members gave evidence to the two-year-long review, sometimes travelling long distances, often with disabilities." "Families shared intimate details of their medical problems, their daily struggles, their difficulties parenting, sometimes even their sex lives. The panel, led by Baroness Cumberlege, was set up by the government to listen, assess and direct policy towards the best course of action. "What was the point of this exercise and the hard work of the panel, if their key recommendations are then ignored by the government?" In the letter, campaigners say: "The decision not to offer an agency for redress (Cumberlege recommendation 3) means that the review has lost its teeth." "Still, no one is facing consequences of medical failures other than the patients. At a time when the public is being asked to put its faith in vaccines, this is a bad look for the government." Kath Sansom, of the campaign group Sling the Mesh, said: "Women must dutifully accept their health has been irreversibly shattered by a medical product they were told was safe, some now needing a disabled blue badge, and they must put up and shut up." Read full story Source: Sky News, 17 February 2022 MeshPrimodosSodiumValproate_LettertoMariaCaulfield_170222.pdf
  16. News Article
    Serious systemic failings contributed to the death of a newborn baby in a cell at Europe’s largest women’s prison, a coroner has concluded. Rianna Cleary, who was 18 at the time, gave birth to her daughter Aisha alone in her prison cell at HMP Bronzefield, in Surrey, on the night of 26 September 2019. The care-leaver was on remand awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to a robbery charge. The inquest into the baby’s death heard that Cleary’s calls for help when she was in labour were ignored, she was left alone in her cell for 12 hours and bit through the umbilical cord to cut it. In a devastating witness statement read to the court, Cleary described going into labour alone as “the worst and most terrifying and degrading experience of my life”. She said: “I didn’t know when I was due to give birth. I was in really serious pain. I went to the buzzer and asked for a nurse or an ambulance twice.” Cleary passed out and when she woke up she had given birth. The senior coroner for Surrey, Richard Travers, said Aisha “arrived into the world in the most harrowing of circumstances”. He concluded it was “unascertained” whether she was born alive and died shortly after or was stillborn. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2023
  17. News Article
    Women who lose babies during pregnancy will be able to get a certificate as an official recognition of their loss as well as better collection and storage of remains under new government plans. The government will make sure the certificate is available to anyone who requests one after experiencing any loss pre-24 weeks’ gestation. The NHS will develop and deliver a sensitive receptacle to collect baby loss remains when a person miscarries. A&Es will also have to ensure that cold storage facilities are available to receive and store remains or pregnancy tissue 24/7 so that women don’t have to resort to storing them in their home refrigerators. The new recommendations are part of the government’s response to the independent Pregnancy Loss Review. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 July 2023
  18. News Article
    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first over-the-counter contraceptive pill, allowing millions of women and girls in the country to buy contraception without a prescription at a time when some states have sought to restrict access to birth control and abortion. FDA officials said on Thursday it cleared Perrigo’s Opill – an every day, prescription-only hormonal contraception first approved in 1973 – to be sold over-the-counter. The pill will be available in stores and online in the first quarter of next year, and there will be no age restrictions on sales. The regulatory approval paves the way for people to purchase the pill without a prescription for the first time since oral contraceptives became widely available in the 1960s. “Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” Patrizia Cavazzoni, the director of the FDA’s center for drug evaluation and research, said in a statement. “When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 July 2023
  19. News Article
    Maltese lawmakers have unanimously approved legislation to ease the strictest abortion laws in the EU, voting to allow terminations – but only in cases where a woman’s life is at risk. Ahead of the vote on Wednesday, pro-choice campaigners withdrew their support, saying last-minute changes make the legislation “vague, unworkable and even dangerous”. The original bill allowing access to abortion if a pregnant woman’s life or health is in danger was hailed as a step in the right direction for Malta, a majority-Catholic country. It was introduced last November after an American tourist who miscarried had to be airlifted off the Mediterranean island nation to be treated. Under the amendments, however, a risk to health is not enough. A woman must be at risk of death to access an abortion, and then only after three specialists consent. The new legislation allows a doctor to terminate a pregnancy without specialist consultation only if the mother’s life is at immediate risk. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 June 2023
  20. News Article
    The midwife leading a review into failings by Nottingham's maternity services said the scope was wider than the UK's biggest maternity scandal. Donna Ockenden previously led the review at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust that found failings led to the deaths of more than 200 babies. The terms of reference for the review in Nottingham were set out on Tuesday. A category of severe maternal harm has been added to include cases that did not lead to a death or injury. Earlier this year Ms Ockenden completed her inquiry into the UK's biggest maternity scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. She said the scope of the review in Nottingham was wider because an additional category had been added to the investigation. It aims to identify cases of severe maternal harm, like an unexpected admission to intensive care or a major obstetric haemorrhage. Ms Ockenden said: "We felt adding in the category of severe maternal harm would help us to understand women's experiences and help us to learn and help the trust to learn from those cases as well. "So actually there's been a widening of the scope which our review team felt was important and when we tested it out with some families they felt it was important too. "Perhaps there's a mum out there saying 'well I'm ok, and my baby's ok, but x,w,z of my maternity experience really worried me or frightened me' then she can send in her experiences." She said fathers could also send in their experiences. Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 September 2022
  21. News Article
    More than 350 families have already contacted a review team which is examining failings at maternity units in two Nottingham hospitals. The review was opened on 1 September by Donna Ockenden, who previously led an inquiry into the maternity scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. She will examine how dozens of babies died or were injured in Nottingham. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised for "unimaginable distress" caused by its failings. More affected families, as well as staff with concerns, have been asked to come forward. Ms Ockenden said: "We are really pleased with the large numbers of families and staff that have already come forward in the first week of the review, and we actively encourage others to do the same." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 September 2022
  22. News Article
    Senior health officials are to face questioning over why pregnant women are still being prescribed sodium valproate despite its known risks as a cause of birth defects or developmental delays. Campaigners for families affected by the drug will also give evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee in a one-off session later this month. Alongside campaigners on sodium valproate, the Committee will also hear from campaigners from Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests and on behalf of “Sling the Mesh” campaign. MPs will examine government progress on recommendations made in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, which specifically looked into sodium valproate, hormone pregnancy tests and vaginal mesh. An update by Ministers on progress to implement the government’s response was due this summer. A Minister from the Department of Health and Social Care has been invited to appear before the Committee. The IMMDS Review’s report called for better communication to inform women of the risks of sodium valproate in pregnancy. Despite an NHS ‘valproate pregnancy prevention programme’, 247 women since April 2018 were found to have been prescribed the drug in a month in which they were pregnant, 25 as recently as April to September last year. Health and Social Care Committee Chair Jeremy Hunt MP said: “It is incredibly concerning to know that women of child-bearing age can still be prescribed the epilepsy drug sodium valproate despite its known risks as a cause of birth defects or developmental delays. It has been two years since Baroness Cumberlege called for urgent action to prevent this happening. However, dozens of pregnant women were prescribed the drug last year while data published last month has shown that safety requirements were not being fully met. We’re calling in a Minister and senior health officials as well as campaigners to address our concerns.” Read full story Source: UK Parliament, 2 September 2022
  23. News Article
    A troubled acute trust has been sent a further warning notice after inspectors found severe shortages of midwives were causing dangerous delays to labour inductions. During one day in June, the Care Quality Commission found eight high-risk women at Blackpool Victoria Hospital had waited prolonged time periods for their labour to be induced. They said one woman had waited five days, while another who was forced to wait more than two days despite her waters having broken on the ward. Delays to labour induction can lead to serious safety risks for mothers and babies. The hospital’s maternity services, previously rated “good” for safety, have now been rated “inadequate” in this domain. The overall rating for maternity has dropped to “requires improvement”. The problems were caused by severe shortages of midwives at the hospital, which had struggled to bring in agency staff due to a lack of availability in the area. However, inspectors also said there was a lack of any discussion or attention to the issues within the trust, despite the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch previously highlighting concerns. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 September 2022
  24. News Article
    Covid vaccination advice in pregnancy has not changed, contrary to false social media posts, UK health agencies have clarified. Inaccurate messages shared by thousands claimed that pregnant or breastfeeding women were now recommended not to take the vaccine. In fact, the NHS says the vaccine is both safe and strongly recommended for this group. The misleading claim came from a now out-of-date document from 2020. The document went viral after a Twitter user - whose account has since been suspended - shared a post stating incorrectly that the UK government had, "quietly remove[d] approval for use of Covid vax in pregnant and breastfeeding women". She linked to a report from December 2020 which said, "reassurance of safe use of the vaccine in pregnant women cannot be provided at the present time", because of an absence of data and that, "women who are breastfeeding should also not be vaccinated". This was true at the time, but since then data has been gathered finding no link between the vaccine and problems in pregnancy or birth. In fact, the Covid vaccine seems to reduce the risk of still-birth and pre-term delivery. And unvaccinated pregnant women are more likely to need hospital treatment if they catch Covid, especially in the third trimester. This evidence led to the recommendation being changed - so the statement found in this report no longer stands. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 September 2022
  25. News Article
    Major concerns are being raised about the Irish State’s failure to set up an inquiry into a drug that caused serious birth defects and developmental delays in at least 1,200 Irish babies. Sodium valproate, a drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder, has been estimated to have caused major malformations in up to 341 Irish children between 1975 and 2015 after it was taken by their mothers during pregnancy. The drug, which is sold in Ireland as Epilim, is also believed to have caused neuro-developmental delays in 1,250 children. Many women were never warned of the risks that taking the drug during pregnancy would pose to their babies. Read full story Source: The Irish Independent
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