Tag: STILLBIRTH SOLICITOR | sue hospital

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Over a Million Pounds to be Spent to Half Stillbirths and Maternity Incidents at NHS Hospital

It’s just so heartwarming to read on the Derby Telegraph website that more than a million pounds is going to be injected into Derby and Burton hospitals with this intention of halving the number of stillbirth and maternity incidents.

There were apparently 16 stillbirths at the Royal Derby hospital last year with the same amount in 2017 and more than double – 37 – in 2016. Last year, that’s 16 lives lost. The pattern of 16 families lives torn apart. Lives changed. Forever.

Of course, Derby and Burton hospitals proposal is part of a wider picture. The NHS has a long term plan to improve maternity care with the reduction of stillbirths and neonatal deaths – “Saving Babies Lives”.

In addition, the RCOG have also plans to tackle the high stillbirth rates with “Every Baby Counts” (see earlier blogs
https://stillbirthclaims.com/baby-counts-rcog-initiative/ and
https://stillbirthclaims.com/each-baby-counts-2018-progress-report-2/

In line with the mission of “Saving Babies Lives”, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) says there is an aim to halve stillbirths, maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and serious brain injury in newborn babies by 2025.

Nearly a year ago, the Perinatal Institute found that 19 baby deaths at the Royal Derby between 2013 and 2016 “might” or should” have been preventable.

I genuinely commend the UHBD for allocating budget to the cause of saving babies lives in reducing stillbirth and neonatal death. One cannot underestimate the effects that a stillbirth or neonatal death can have on a family (I sadly know this first hand) and to read that a Trust is prioritising this is amazing. Hopefully more Trusts will follow suit.

For more information see: https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/more-million-spent-halve-stillbirths-2870697

If you or a loved one would like to discuss a stillbirth compensation claim or neonatal death compensation claim, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Hospital Under Review – Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths

I’m both sad and frustrated to be sat at my desk writing this blog. Another hospital under review. Another hospital not affording a reasonable standard of care to mothers and babies. Another hospital not meeting national targets.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has received its fourth warning in eight months according to an article recently published in the Daily Mail.

The Care Quality commission (CQC) has issued a section 31 warning which means that the Trust faces closure if changes are not made.

Apparently, the most recent warning concerned a lack of staff in A&E particularly paediatricians.

An independent review is being conducted after 250 cases of poor maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust over the last 20 years. The review started in April 2017 following which many more families came forward over stillbirth, neonatal and child deaths.

It emerged that a failure to properly monitor heart rates played a contributory factor in five deaths whilst another two were found to be suspicious. Legal action taken and Inquests resulted in the finding that seven deaths were avoidable.

An investigation by the Trust found that two babies died from oxygen starvation to the brain ‘contributed to by delay in recognising deterioration in the foetal heart traces and the missed opportunities for earlier delivery’. 

In September 2018 the West Midlands Quality Review Service warned Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust about its lack of trained staff in paediatric resuscitation. 

The report noted that paediatric staff were only available ‘9am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 12 noon to 10pm on Saturdays and Sundays’. 

‘Reviewers considered that a child could arrive and need resuscitation after 10pm and that a member of staff with appropriate competences to lead the resuscitation might not be available.’

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust attribute the lack of available staff due to a strain on the service with a rise in patients. As a result, the Trust has approved spending of over £1 million for additional staffing in an attempt to combat the problem.

I don’t understand how poor care can get so out of hand but looking at the situation with a my positive eyes, I sincerely hope that the extra staff employed will greatly improve the care given and that all those families get the answers that they are striving for.

For more information please see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7014485/Scandal-hit-NHS-trust-centre-baby-deaths-review-receives-warning.html

If you or a loved one would like to discuss a stillbirth compensation claim or neonatal death compensation claim, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Welsh Hospital in Special Measures Following Review – Increase in Stillbirth and Neonatal Death

An independent review of Cwm Taf maternity services describes it as “under extreme pressure and “dysfunctional”.

Special measures have been put in place prompted by concerns over the death of babies. There were 25 reported serious incidents including eight stillbirths and five neonatal deaths between January 2016 and September 2018.

According to the BBC website, the independent review found that the suspicions and concerns raised by women were not taken seriously whilst there was “little evidence of effective clinical leadership at any level”.

“Many women had felt something was wrong with their baby or tried to convey the level of pain they were experiencing but they were ignored or patronised, and no action was taken, with tragic outcomes including stillbirth and neonatal death of their babies,” the report said.

The BBC reported that further cases should be looked at – going back to 2010 – to “determine the extent of the under-reporting” of issues and to provide assurance to the health board. The review found 11 areas of immediate concern at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant and Prince Charles in Merthyr Tydfil, including:

  • Often no consultant obstetrician on the labour ward, and difficult to contact
  • Not enough midwives, putting them under “extreme pressure”
  • Consultants were not always available out of hours – and would take 45 minutes to get in
  • “Fragmented” consultant cover while their roster arrangements were “complex and inflexible”
  • High numbers of locum staff at all levels
  • Staff not aware of guidelines, protocols, triggers and escalations
  • “Punitive culture” within the service and staff felt senior management did not listen to their concerns, which they had “voiced repeatedly over a long period of time”

The reference to the lack of Consultant care was something I discussed earlier today in my previous blog: https://stillbirthclaims.com/giving-birth-at-night-or-during-the-weekend-an-increase-in-stillbirth-and-neo-natal-death-compensation-claims/

There had also been 67 stillbirths going back to 2010 which had not been reported for inclusion in statistics for a national database.

It’s very saddening to read this review but equally, reassuring that safeguards are in place to ensure that concerns are investigated (even if it takes time to get to this point).

What happens going forward for now remains to be seen. I hope the families get the answers to questions they want to know and that going forward, the number of stillborn and neonatal death babies reduces and care to women being of the standard that one would expect in a first world country in the 21st century.

If you or a loved one would like to discuss a stillbirth compensation claim or neonatal death compensation claim, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Giving Birth at Night or During the Weekend – an increase in stillbirth and neo-natal death compensation claims?

Here is a link I posted on the Gregory Abrams Davidson’s website recently. I thought I would share it on here too because of its relevance:


http://blog.gadllp.co.uk/giving-birth-at-night-or-during-the-weekend-an-increase-in-medical-negligence-and-compensation-claims/?preview=true

If you or a loved one would like to discuss a stillbirth compensation claim or neonatal death compensation claim, please do not hesitate to contact us.