New Report into NHS Maternity Services shows Consistently Poor Care

A new report into NHS maternity services nationwide has shown shocking findings, suggesting that poor maternity care is so frequent that it is often accepted as normal practice. Sadly, several individuals have come forward to speak about their experiences, with many of them noting that they felt ignored and left alone. 

The new Birth Trauma Inquiry has been led by Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour MP Rosie Duffield and has taken into consideration more than 1,300 women’s experiences. As a result of their findings, the MPs have called for a plan to improve maternity care nationally. 

We are already aware of the inquiry into the maternity services in Nottingham, where nearly 1,900 families are involved in outlining the tragic events they have been through, but this new inquiry highlights that the issues are not unique to Nottingham but are rather nationwide. They have put forward 12 recommendations to make improvements, including a suggestion to retrain and recruit more midwives, offer a separate six-week check post-delivery with a GP for all mothers, provide support for fathers or nominated birth partners and better educate women on birth choices. In addition, and of particular note, they have suggested implementing a maternity commissioner to report directly to the prime minister for any further concerns moving forward, and they have recommending extending the time limit for medical negligence litigation relating to childbirth from three years to five years to give women more time to consider their positions and take any action necessary. 

Crucially, the MPs have called for maternal care to be universal across the UK in order to end the “postcode lottery” on care and bring consistency for the safety of mothers and babies. We hope that this will bring the knowledge of what is required up to a safer standard and will in turn have much better outcomes for all the mothers and children that rely on the NHS maternity services.

Jane Williams, Partner and Head of the Clinical Negligence team in Nottingham, said: “Distraught families have had enough of the ongoing indifference and intransigence to what is clearly failings on a truly national scale where despite inquiry after inquiry, apology after apology and a slew of litigation, neither the NHS or the government appear willing to tackle the real issue - a root and branch rethink of what young mothers and families need at what is one of the most stressful points in everyone’s lives . We can only hope that all of the recommendations are implemented.”

As clinical negligence lawyers we have been contacted and represent an increasing number of families and children who have suffered or have lost loved ones as a result of failures in maternity care during labour and birth. These claims seek to ensure that any child who has suffered a preventable injury can access the services they require such as care, therapy, aids and equipment, and suitably adapted accommodation which may assist them during their lives. For those who have sadly suffered loss we can help to secure support and therapy to help those suffering to come to terms with these devastating events. We can also help secure an apology from the Trust responsible and seek to ensure the same mistakes are not made again