Report finds blame culture holding back maternity safety

A committee of MPs have said the safety of maternity services in England has not improved quickly enough, adding that a “culture of blame” was preventing staff admitting mistakes and lessons being learned.

Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, said 1,000 more babies would survive each year if England’s maternity services were as safe as Sweden’s.

Around £2m is being spent on detecting early signs of babies in distress, which Maternity Safety Minister Nadione Dorries has said would help to halve brain injuries during birth by 2025.

The committee’s report found that although there had been an improvement in maternity safety, the deaths of a number of newborn babies at a number of hospitals in recent years were a reminder that much more needed to be done.

The report highlighted failings at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and critical concerns at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

Mr Hunt said “Although the majority of NHS births are totally safe, failings in maternity services can have a devastating outcome for the families involved.

“Despite a number of high-profile incidents, improvements in maternity safety are still not happening quickly enough.

“Nothing less is owed to the families for whom a birth was not the joyous occasion they had the right to expect.”

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 a 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 Freephone 0800 304 7382