Investigation ordered into baby death cluster

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that a cluster of baby deaths, which all occurred at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, will be investigated.

Mr Hunt has asked NHS England and NHS Improvement to review the seven deaths which occurred within a two year period and deemed as avoidable, to ensure they have been properly investigated.

A contributory factor in five of the deaths was a failure to properly monitor the baby’s heart rate, which is a leading cause of cerebral palsy amongst newborns.

The CTG monitor can indicate how the foetal heart rate responds to the stress triggered by the mother’s contractions. Although this technology has been used for decades, mistakes can still be made, for example the mother’s heart-rate being mistaken for that of the baby.

Cathy Warwick, the Royal College of Midwives’ chief executive, said “Mistakes are uncommon but they do happen.

“It is something we have to avoid. Unfortunately, we are still seeing mistakes being made, though we have been training midwives and doctors in this technique for a very long time.”

The Shrewsbury and Telford Trust’s medical director, Dr Edwin Borman, said that the Trust’s mortality rates were in line with the national average.

He said “When I look at the perinatal mortality rate at our trust compared to the rest of the NHS, we are at an equivalent level to the rest of the country.

“In the case of foetal heart rate monitoring, we have identified a number of cases where learning has not been fully implemented. We’ve put systems in place to make improvements.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s team of medical negligence lawyers have years of experience in high value and complex medical negligence compensation claims and have an excellent record. The team is led by Tony May, a specialist cerebral palsy and birth injury solicitor, who has over 20 years experience in handling cases in which babies have been brain damaged or sustained other injuries as a result of medical negligence.  He and his team continue to represent many cerebral palsy children and young adults in medical negligence claims.  Tony also acts as the Court of Protection Deputy for many of the cerebral palsy and brain damaged clients that he has represented, so we can continue to support you after your case is settled.  Tony can be contacted by email on tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk.  Alternatively, please call and speak to any of Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist medical negligence Legal Aid and no win-no fee solicitors for free legal advice on the freephone number below.

Freephone: 0800 028 2969

For further information, please see our cerebral palsy and birth injury website:

http://www.cerebralpalsyclaimssolicitors.co.uk