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Found 103 results
  1. News Article
    A trust is set to close one of its birthing units for at least six months after admitting it “cannot safely run” the service. Somerset Foundation Trust will temporarily close the maternity unit at Yeovil District Hospital “for an initial period of six months” from next week, amid significant gaps in medical staffing. The trust has said it “cannot safely run” the special care baby unit, which provides dedicated support for premature newborns, nor “safely provide care during labour and birth”. The closure follows concerns being raised by the Care Quality Commission. The regulator rated maternity services at Yeovil “inadequate” last year and also issued a warning notice in January after finding its paediatric care “requires significant improvement”. The CQC said the service did not have enough medical staff or emergency equipment to keep babies safe, and found not all staff followed infection control procedures. Dr Iles added that senior paediatricians from Somerset FT’s Musgrove Park Hospital are helping to ensure paediatric inpatient and outpatient services at Yeovil remain open, including obstetric and midwifery antenatal clinics, scanning, antenatal screening services, and home births. But she added: “We cannot care for any newborns who require care in a special care baby unit or safely provide care during labour and birth at the Yeovil maternity unit. “We are committed to providing safe, high quality, and sustainable services for those who need them, but we must address these concerns and need the time and space to do this. I apologise again to anyone who is affected by these changes.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 May 2025
  2. Event
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    The Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) programme is part of a national strategy to improve maternity safety across the NHS in England. MNSI has completed over 3500 independent safety investigations, using system focused methodology, into maternity events, including direct and indirect maternal deaths in pregnancy and up to 6 weeks postpartum. MNSI made recommendations to trusts 33 times between September 2018 and December 2023 in relation to birthing outside of guidance. These were reviewed by a team of maternity investigators and clinical advisors who identified this as a learning theme. In this webinar we will explore how healthcare professionals are able to support women / birthing people who birth outside of guidance so we can improve the outcomes and the experience of mothers, birthing people and babies. Register for the webinar
  3. News Article
    "Reasonable precautions" could have prevented the deaths of three newborn babies, a fatal accident inquiry has found. Leo Lamont, Ellie McCormick and Mira-Belle Bosch all died within hours of their births in two Lanarkshire hospitals, in 2019 and 2021. The report found all three deaths could "realistically" have been avoided had different advice been given by midwives or procedures followed. The McCormick family said they could "never have imagined" the amount of failures that led to their daughter's death and called it a "catalogue of errors". The inquiry ruled "defects" within the system contributed to each death, including that there was a "lack of an effective means" to highlight risks in one of the pregnancies and that midwives had no guidance to assess preterm labour symptoms. Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar KC made 11 recommendations for the future, including creating a "trigger list" to identify and assess early labour symptoms. Among these are reviewing electronic patient information records to improve alerts for at risk mothers, and having a direct telephone line to each maternity unit in Scotland for ambulance crews. In a statement, the McCormick family said: "The family could simply never have imagined the scale of both the individual and systems failures that came to light during the inquiry. "What seemed to be flaws with the electronic system of record keeping actually turned out to be a catalogue of errors with numerous opportunities to avoid the tragic outcome that followed." Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 March 2025
  4. Content Article
    To help women / birthing people have a safe and healthy birth there are national and local healthcare guidelines. However, from time to time, people may choose to give birth outside of these guidelines. Based on findings from MNSI investigations, this paper explores how healthcare professionals can support people who choose to give birth outside of guidance and what we can learn.   What can maternity providers do? Maternity providers can discuss and explore with their teams what support is available when someone decides to give birth outside of guidance. These ‘safety prompts’ will help facilitate those conversations. Safety prompts Do you have a guideline or process to support staff and mothers / birthing people when care choices are outside of national or local guidance? Is there any training available for staff in how to navigate conversations in order to facilitate supported decision making? Can women / birthing people benefit from birth choice clinics that are multi professional and use supported decision-making principles? When a woman / birthing person requests a birth plan that deviates from national or local guidance, is this agreed in advance of birth? Do discussions include contingencies so there are clear parameters for acceptable care pathways when the situation changes, or an emergency occurs? Are there resources (leaflets/videos/infographics) available that include up to date information, that are easily accessible and clear, to assist mothers / birthing people in supported decision-making when seeking care outside of national or local guidance? Have you considered exploring with families their reasons for choosing to birth outside of guidance to enable learning?
  5. News Article
    Nearly 5,000 nurses, over 100 physicians, and advanced practitioners at Providence Oregon began striking Friday, impacting all eight state hospitals and six women’s clinics. Striking workers cite systemic understaffing, safety concerns, and job security fears due to Providence’s operational changes and private equity involvement. The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) has accused Providence of refusing to bargain effectively, leading to the strike after over a year of stalled negotiations. Providence countered, claiming it offered nurses a 20% pay increase and accused the union of stalling. Governor Tina Kotek urged all parties to return to the table, emphasizing the disruption to patient care. Providence has hired 2,000 temporary nurses but struggled to find replacement physicians, consolidating women’s clinic services and reducing capacity. Providence leadership acknowledged challenges but expressed commitment to resuming negotiations once operations stabilise. Full article here.
  6. News Article
    Nearly 1,000 women were diverted to other NHS trusts or units while in labour within a six-month period this year, HSJ can reveal. The information was obtained via a Freedom of Information request, but only 68 of approximately 120 trusts with maternity units provided responses – so the true figure is likely to be significantly higher. In 528 of the 925 incidents recorded between January to June this year, patients were diverted to a different NHS trust from their chosen place of birth to either have their baby or to receive further care while they were in suspected or confirmed labour. Of those, 402 were due to staffing, capacity issues in neonatal units, and high acuity of illness in women with a lack of diverse skill mix to support them. The remaining diverts were for clinical reasons such as premature labour. A further 397 incidents involved diversions being made to other hospitals within the same NHS trust, bringing the overall total to 925. HSJ’s research shines a light on a problem which is widely known but has not been properly quantified for several years. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 December 2024
  7. News Article
    One in four babies born in NHS hospitals in England last year were delivered by caesarean section, official figures show. The gradual increase in the number of caesarean births over the past decade is due to a growing number of complex pregnancies and births, caused by factors including rising obesity rates and women waiting until they are older to have children. The proportion of spontaneous deliveries that do not involve drugs or other medical interventions has steadily declined in the last 10 years. “Over the past decade, there has been a gradual national increase in the number of caesareans,” said Dr Ranee Thakar, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). “A major factor of this is the growing number of complex births. We are seeing national rising rates of obesity and people choosing to have children at a later stage in their life, both of which can increase the chance of complications.” Most women seek a C-section for medical reasons, but also have the right to opt for one based on personal preference according to guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. These state that if a mother does not want a vaginal birth after discussing the benefits and risks, the medic should “offer a planned caesarean birth for women requesting a caesarean birth”. In 2022, hospitals in England were told to abandon targets aimed at limiting the number caesarean sections carried out to below 20%, over fears for the safety of mothers and babies. At the time, the chief midwife described the targets as potentially unsafe. This followed the Royal College of Midwives formally abandoned its normal birth campaign in 2017, after years of promoting vaginal births as preferable. Dr Thakar said: “The RCOG does not promote one form of birth over another. Women should be supported to make an informed decision about how they want to give birth, including a discussion on the risks and benefits of both vaginal and caesarean births. The safety and care of the woman and baby during pregnancy, labour and birth should always be the main focus.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 December 2024
  8. News Article
    Sick newborns in some areas of the UK are dying at twice the rate of seriously ill babies in other areas, a new report has revealed. The findings raise serious questions about the quality of care in some neonatal units, with experts warning action needs to be taken to tackle the “striking variation”. Across the country neonatal units are also short of at least 600 nurses with four in five failing to meet required safe staffing levels for specialist nurses. The regions with the highest mortality rate at 10 per cent were Staffordshire, Shropshire and the Black Country, where 107 babies died. This compared with a rate of 5 per cent in north central and northeast London. The Shropshire region includes the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, which is at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS, with hundreds of alleged cases of poor care now under investigation. Dr Sam Oddie, a consultant neonatologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust and who led the work for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the differences in death rates between units. “The mortality differences are very striking, with some units having a mortality rate twice that of the lowest. This variation in mortality is a basis for action by neonatal networks to ensure they are doing everything they can to make sure their mortality is as low as possible,” he said. Read full story Read MBRRACE-UK report Source: The Independent, 18 December 2019
  9. Event
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    This free webinar will cover the current state of serious events involving newborns related to labour and delivery in Pennsylvania facilities and provide a deeper look into the most commonly reported event: shoulder dystocia. We will review and response when a shoulder dystocia occurs, as well as steps that can be taken after such an event, to inform practitioners with the aim of improving outcomes to future instances. Register for the webinar
  10. News Article
    Women have faced delays in giving birth due to the ongoing strikes, a major trust’s chief executive has said. Matthew Hopkins, who joined Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust last month, told a board meeting on Thursday that industrial action was having a “significant and growing” impact on patients. He added that this extended beyond delays to outpatient appointments and elective operations, saying: “It is also delaying mums giving birth, because we are seeing delays now in being able to conduct our elective Caesarian sections.” Mr Hopkins said the impact was also “really significant” on staff, with those covering for colleagues “very, very tired”. “It is important we give a very clear message to the two sides of the argument – government and the [British Medical Association] – that we need a light at the end of the tunnel, and staff need a light at the end of the tunnel. “Going into winter, with this continuing disruption for our patients and our staff, is in my view unacceptable.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 September 2023
  11. News Article
    Thousands of women are having induction of labour delayed because of a shortage of staff, raising concerns about the safety of them and their babies, HSJ has found. The issue has been highlighted at seven hospitals in Care Quality Commission reports over the past six months, and HSJ has identified a further three trusts declaring they are concerned about it in their own board papers over the same period. At University Hospitals of Leicester Trust, more than 1,300 “red flags” were raised in a five-month period due to delays in the induction of labour, linked to staffing levels, the CQC said earlier this month. Most were dealys in continuing inductions, and a smaller number were delays between admission and beginning an induction. UHL indicated it had set its own “red flag” bar locally, so all the delays did not represent a national alert. Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, told HSJ: “At some maternity services we’ve found women having to wait long periods of time to be induced or for transfer to a labour ward once the induction process has started, and in some cases a lack of effective monitoring during periods of delay. “Where we have found concerns about delayed treatment – including induction of labour – we have made clear to those trusts that effective oversight of the issue is vital and that all action possible should be taken to mitigate any risk and keep people using the service safe.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 September 2023
  12. News Article
    Hospitals 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
  13. News Article
    Women are being "failed at every stage" when it comes to maternity care, say campaigners, as they call for more support for those experiencing traumatic births. Mumsnet found 79% of the 1,000 women who answered their questionnaire had experienced some form of birth trauma, with 53% saying it had put them off from having more children. And according to the snapshot of UK mothers, 44% also said healthcare professionals had used language implying they were "a failure or to blame" for what happened. Conservative MP Theo Clarke is leading calls for more action after her own experience, where she thought she was "going to die" after suffering a third degree tear and needing emergency surgery. Now, she has set up an all party parliamentary group on birth trauma. She said: "[It is] clear that more compassion, education and better after-care for mothers who suffer birth trauma are desperately needed if we are to see an improvement in mums' physical wellbeing and mental health. "It is vitally important women receive the help and support they deserve." Chief executive of Mumsnet, Justine Roberts, said the trauma had "long-lasting effects", adding: "It's clear that women are being failed at every stage of the maternity care process - with too little information provided beforehand, a lack of compassion from staff during birth, and substandard postnatal care for mothers' physical and mental health." Read full story Source: Sky News, 15 September 2023
  14. News Article
    Staffing shortages are likely to restrict the use of a beneficial painkiller in birthing suites, even once its use has been recommended by national guidance. Research by HSJ suggests that just over half of trusts are already offering remifentanil to women in labour, although some are having to restrict its use due to lack of staffing. Responses to freedom of information requests from 108 trusts revealed 55 offered remifentanil during labour in 2022-23. Recent draft National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on intrapartum care, published in April, suggested healthcare professionals “consider intravenous remifentanil patient-controlled analgesia” in obstetric units. This is partly because it reduces the likelihood of forceps or ventouse being required compared to intramuscular pethidine (an opioid commonly used in labour). However, the drug is not yet mentioned in official NICE guidelines and the opioid’s use in labour is currently off-label (its more common licenced use is alongside anaesthesia in surgery). A Royal College of Anaesthetists spokesperson said the use of drugs off-label “is extremely common in obstetrics given that drug trials do not often include pregnant women”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 September 2023
  15. News Article
    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
  16. News Article
    Maternity departments are raising thousands of safety reports every year about delayed inductions of labour, HSJ can reveal. Induction of labour may be used when women are overdue, because their waters have broken, or for other medical reasons to speed up the birth, such as poor growth of the baby. Delaying induction therefore may increase risks for both mothers and babies and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says trusts should raise a “red flag event” if it is delayed for more than two hours after admission. Information collected by HSJ from 50 trusts show 4,945 red flags related to delays in induction of labour in 2022-23. HSJ also found 3,109 reports in 2021-22 and 1,807 in 2020-21 across 47 trusts. Meanwhile, there were 1,997 Datix reports mentioning induction of labour in 2022-23 across 59 trusts able to give HSJ figures, in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, compared with 1,690 in 2021-22 and 1,368 in 2020-21. The Care Quality Commission has also raised concerns in inspections that incidents which should have been treated as “red flags” have not always been reported as such. The watchdog has also raised concerns about a lack of board-level oversight of maternity safety incidents and a need for clearer guidance for staff on reporting processes. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 April 2024
  17. News Article
    An inquiry into birth trauma has received more than 1,300 submissions from families. It is estimated that 30,000 women a year in the UK have suffered negative experiences during the delivery of their babies, while 1 in 20 develop post-traumatic stress disorder. The investigation is a cross-party initiative, led by MPs Theo Clarke and Rosie Duffield, in collaboration with the Birth Trauma Association. Ms Clarke the Conservative MP for Stafford, triggered the first ever parliamentary debate on the issue in October. In an emotional exchange in the House of Commons, she described her own experience following her daughter's birth at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in 2022. She bled heavily after suffering a tear and had to undergo two-hour surgery without general anaesthetic, due to an earlier epidural. The Birth Trauma Association, which is administering the inquiry, invited the public to submit written accounts of their own experiences. Dr Kim Thomas, from the association, said she had received an "overwhelming" number of personal accounts. Some cases date back as far as the 1960s. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 February 2024
  18. News Article
    Lawyers and charities tell of mothers told to ‘labour at home as long as they can’, dangerously few midwives and ‘lies’ during natal care. As Rozelle Bosch approached her due date she had every reason to expect a healthy baby. Neither she, her husband nor the midwives knew that the child was in the breech position at 30 weeks. When her waters broke a fortnight early, Bosch and her husband, Eckhardt, both first-time parents, had been reassured by NHS Lanarkshire that all was well and that the mother was “low risk”. They were sent home from Wishaw hospital and told to monitor conditions until the pregnancy became “active”. Shortly before 11pm on 1 July 2021, her husband called an ambulance saying that Bosch was in labour and was giving birth. Bosch was in an upstairs bedroom on her knees and paramedics noted that “the baby was pink”. They soon asked the control room for a doctor or midwife to attend but none were available. By the time the ambulance took the family to hospital, the baby had turned blue. Within two days, baby Mirabelle had died. She had become trapped with only her feet and calves delivered while the couple were still at home. A post-mortem has found that Mirabelle suffered oxygen deprivation to the brain from “head entrapment” during delivery. Last month, her father explained to a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) at Glasgow sheriff court: “We were told Rozelle was healthy and Mirabelle was healthy. I think this was a lie and the consequences have me standing here today.” The way that the tragedy unfolded is striking, not just because of the devastating consequences, but because it is not an entirely isolated case. The same FAI is examining the deaths of two other newborns, Ellie McCormick and Leo Lamont, who also died in NHS Lanarkshire less than a month apart in 2019. Experts say it is rare for the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service to group investigations in this way. Darren Deery, the McCormicks’ lawyer and a medical negligence specialist with Drummond Miller, said he had noticed a “considerable increase” in parents contacting the law firm in the past three years. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 11 February 2024
  19. News Article
    Doctors have warned of the risks of “freebirthing” – where a woman gives birth without the help of a medic or midwife. Unassisted births, or “freebirths”, are thought to have been on the increase since the start of the Covid pandemic, when people may have been worried about attending hospitals and home births were suspended in many areas. The practice is not illegal and women have the right to decline any care during their pregnancy and delivery. Some women hire a doula to support them during birth. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said women should be supported to have the birth they choose, but “safety is paramount” and families need to be aware of the risks of going it alone. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said it is in the early stages of collaboration with the Chief Midwifery Officer’s teams, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Department of Health to better understand professional concerns about freebirthing and what organisations may need to do. Its statement on unassisted births supports women’s choice, but notes that “midwives are understandably concerned about women giving birth at home without assistance, as it brings with it increased risks to both the mother and baby”. It also states that women need to be informed that a midwife may not be available to be sent out to their home during labour if they change their mind and wish to have help. Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 February 2024
  20. News Article
    When pharmacist Ifeoma Onwuka, known to her friends as Laura, went into hospital to have her daughter, she and her husband hoped the delivery would go smoothly, and that they would soon be able to take their new arrival home  to meet her siblings.  Onwuka's labor was induced at James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth in late April 2018. Things progressed quickly and there were soon signs that her baby was in distress, causing staff to begin preparations for an emergency Caesarian section, but Onwuka's daughter was born in the recovery room. Shortly after the birth, Onwuka's condition began to deteriorate. According to the family's lawyer, Tim Deeming, she began to bleed heavily, and was taken into surgery where attempts were made to stem the loss of blood. Hours later, and only after a second consultant had been called in, she was given an emergency hysterectomy. The mother-of-three died three days later. The coroner, Yvonne Blake, said an expert had told Onwuka's inquest that the delay to surgery contributed to her death, since acting early could have controlled the bleeding.  Black mothers have worse outcomes during pregnancy or childbirth than any other ethnic group in England. According to the latest confidential inquiry into maternal deaths (MBRRACE-UK). Black people in England are four times more likely to die in pregnancy or within the first six weeks of childbirth than their White counterparts.  Read full story Source: CNN. 14 January 2021
  21. News Article
    More women may suffer pain due to being conscious while undergoing caesareans or other pregnancy-related surgery under general anaesthetic than realised, a troubling new study has found. The report, conducted by medical journal Anaesthesia, found being awake while having a caesarean is far more common than it is with other types of surgery. Researchers discovered that one in 256 women going through pregnancy-related surgery are aware of what was going on — a far higher proportion than the one in every 19,000 identified in a previous national audit. If a patient is conscious at some point while under general anaesthetic, they may be able to recall events from the surgery such as pain or the sensation of being trapped, the researchers said. While the experiences generally only last for a few seconds or minutes, anaesthetists remain highly concerned. Women also felt tugging, stitching, feelings of dissociation and not being able to breathe - with some suffering long-term psychological damage that often involved characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder. Read full story Source: The Independent, 13 January 2021
  22. News Article
    Rachel Hardeman has dedicated her career to fighting racism and the harm it has inflicted on the health of Black Americans. As a reproductive health equity researcher, she has been especially disturbed by the disproportionately high mortality rates for Black babies. In an effort to find some of the reasons behind the high death rates, Hardeman, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and three other researchers combed through the records of 1.8 million Florida hospital births between 1992 and 2015 looking for clues. They found a tantalising statistic. Although Black newborns are three times as likely to die as White newborns, when Black babies are delivered by Black doctors, their mortality rate is cut in half. "Strikingly, these effects appear to manifest more strongly in more complicated cases," the researchers wrote, "and when hospitals deliver more Black newborns." They found no similar relationship between White doctors and White births. Nor did they find a difference in maternal death rates when the doctor's race was the same as the patient's. Read full story Research paper Source: The Washington Post, 9 January 2021
  23. News Article
    A new training aid, developed in Fife, is helping to equip trainee medical staff from around the world with the skills to prevent late miscarriage and premature labour. It was invented by Dr Graham Tydeman, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital, in conjunction with the St Thomas’ Hospital, London, and Limbs and Things. The lifelike simulator allows trainees to perform hands on cervical cerclage in advance of a real-life emergency. The procedure involves an emergency stitching around the cervix and is necessary when the cervix shortens or opens too early during pregnancy, helping to prevent late miscarriage or extreme premature labour. It is not a common event and the simulator was developed by Dr Tydeman following a request from medical trainees across the UK. The device has already been warmly received by hospitals and training institutions across the world – with orders from countries including New Zealand and India. Dr Tydeman said: “The reason this was developed is that it is not a common procedure and is very difficult to teach trainees." “Increasingly women are understandably asking about the experience of their surgeon and anyone having this procedure understandably does not want it to be the first one that a doctor has ever done because if it goes wrong there could be tragic consequences with loss of the baby. However, if a trainee has shown suitable skills using this simulator, I would be able to confidently reassure women that the doctor had been adequately trained, although a more experienced person would always help during the actual operation for the first few procedures on real women." Read full story Source: The Courier, 19 December 2020
  24. News Article
    Health chiefs are designing an “early warning” system to detect and prevent future maternity care scandals before they happen, a health minister has said. Patient safety minister Nadine Dorries said she hoped the system would highlight hospitals and maternity units where mistakes were being made earlier. The former nurse also revealed the Department of Health and Social Care was drawing up a plan for a joint national curriculum for both midwives and obstetricians to make sure they had the skills to look after women safely. During a Parliamentary debate following the publication of a report into the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital care scandal, the minister was challenged by MPs to take action to prevent future scandals. The former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warned the failings at the Shropshire trust, where dozens of babies died or were left with permanent brain damage, could be repeated elsewhere. He said: “The biggest mistake in interpreting this report would be to think that what happened at Shrewsbury and Telford is a one-off — it may well not be, and we mustn't assume that it is.” Ms Dorries said: “Every woman should own her birth plan, be in control of what is happening to her during her delivery and I really hope ... this report is fundamental in how it's going to reform the maternity services across the UK going forward. Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 December 2020
  25. News Article
    A coroner has urged ministers to revisit plans to make it possible to hold inquests into babies that are stillborn after a baby died due to “excessive force” during an attempted forceps delivery. Senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray has written to the Ministry of Justice after she was forced to stop hearing evidence into the death of baby Frederick Terry, known as Freddie, who died under the care of the Mid and South Essex Hospitals Trust on 16 November, last year. An inquest into his death was started in September where Freddie was found to have died after suffering hypovolaemic shock as a result of losing a fifth of his blood when his skull was fractured during a traumatic birth attempt. In a report on the case the coroner said: “Baby Frederick Joseph Terry was delivered by caesarean section, after a failed forceps attempted delivery on 16 November 2019 and death was confirmed after 40 minutes of resuscitation attempts." "The evidence showed that baby Freddie's very serious scalp and brain injuries were sustained during the failed forceps attempted delivery and, but for these, baby Freddie would have survived as a perfectly formed, healthy baby." The coroner said the injuries he sustained implied “an excessive degree of force” in the application of the forceps, which are curved metal instruments that fit around a baby’s head and are designed to help deliver the baby. The inquest had to be stopped from hearing any more evidence because coroners are not able to investigate stillborn babies. As part of her report, the coroner said: “It would have been helpful for there to have been, during the course of the inquest, an exploration, in the course of evidence, of the treatment and care provided to baby Freddie and his parents at the time of delivery. "Currently there is no legislation to cover the holding of a coroner’s inquest into a stillbirth. In March 2019, the Government issued a consultation on coronial investigations of stillbirths It would be helpful for this important topic to be progressed, whatever the ultimate jurisdictional decisions.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 November 2020

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