Maternity care failings

A register of mistakes during maternity care over two years to March 2017 has revealed that around one in five births are affected by mistakes.

Fortunately, most do not result in serious harm but some do with 288 deaths reported between April 2015 to March 2017 and 479 incidents recorded as causing severe harm. In addition, 8134 incidents resulted in significant harm.

The figures are part of a voluntary reporting scheme set up to monitor issues arising from maternity care run by regulator NHS Improvement.

It is not compulsory to report incidents but statistics indicate that staff have been encouraged to do so.

Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has indicated that poor care resulting in stillbirths or deaths soon after delivery, must be improved and in particular has targeted stillbirths for a reduction by half.

However, the Royal College of Midwives indicate that with short staffing on maternity units and around 3,500 more midwives needed, there are very serious concerns about how the situation can be improved.

The Care Quality Commission also agree that short staffing plays a part in incidents of serious harm.

As lawyers, specialising in birth injury claims, we see many incidents of avoidable harm including significant delays during delivery leaving babies who would otherwise have been born healthy, with brain injury and significant disability for life.

Errors result from a combination of factors including problems in communication between midwives and doctors, delays in calling senior doctors to a birth, failing to identify a serious condition during the delivery or not accommodating women on the delivery suite and sending them home from maternity units.

We have seen a steadily increasing number of enquiries relating to child birth with harm to both mother and baby.

If you or your family have experienced a problem related to childbirth, then please contact our specialist team, who will be pleased to assist you.