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Mothers and Babies at Risk From Crisis on Maternity Wards

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 18:01 CDT

THE lives of new mothers and their babies are being put at risk by poor care on maternity wards, the Government's health watchdog said last night.

The Healthcare Commission criticised a chronic shortage of midwives, poor training, bad management and dirty environments.

Other failings included staff not having time to explain what was happening to worried parents, overcrowding on wards, faulty equipment and a lack of information for bereaved families.

Britain has one of the highest infant mortality rates in Europe, at 5.3 deaths per 1,000 births. Only Poland and the Slovak Republic are worse.

Deaths in pregnancy and childbirth have risen from 30 in 1999 to 45 in 2003.

In the commission's most stronglyworded warning since it was created two years ago, chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said maternity services were not as 'good or safe as they should be'.

He added: 'Our work has shown that there is too much poor practice that needs to be rooted out.' The Department of Health accepted that Sir Ian had raised 'extremely important issues' and admitted maternity care was 'not yet good enough'.

The commission's findings, to be presented to MPs today, followed its investigations of three maternity units.

These uncovered evidence of staff and equipment shortages, as well as bad management, contributing to the deaths of mothers or babies or to their lives being put in jeopardy.

At Northwick Park in North-West London, where ten women died during or soon after giving birth, outside experts were called in to take charge after a blistering report by Sir Ian's team.

At New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, a review by commission inspectors of 20 deaths found that half the victims might have lived with better care.

The third investigation, at Ashford and St Peter's NHS Trust in Surrey, found no evidence of unnecessary deaths but said ' feuding' between consultants was jeopardising patient care.

Sir Ian is now calling for all trusts to review their maternity care amid fears that there are huge discrepancies across the country.

He said it was currently impossible to make an exact comparison as some trusts do not provide complete information in 2003-4, complete data was submitted for only 72 per cent of births in England.

Sir Ian said trusts which continue to provide incomplete data will be told to expect 'spot checks' by the commission or receive a poor endofyear performance rating.

He added: 'Giving birth is probably safer now, in overall terms, than it ever was and there are lots of examples of good practice.

'However, this is an area where the consequences of things going wrong are very great. There is growing evidence that in some places maternity services are not as good or safe as they should be.

'Very few mothers and babies die or suffer serious damage.

But the numbers could be smaller if we threw the spotlight on maternity more often, not just in the aftermath of a serious problem.' The commisconsultantssion said it had been alarmed by the need to hold three investigations in only two years.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley called the findings 'deeply worrying'. He said: 'Many maternity services deliver high standards despite serious pressures, particularly a shortage of midwives.

'But other evidence, for example the failures at Northwick Park, demands urgent action.

'It will not be good enough for the Government to make promises about changes years hence if we have too few midwives and poor standards today.'

Health Minister Liam Byrne said: 'We welcome Sir Ian's acknowledgement that giving birth is safer now than ever before.

'However services are not yet good enough to meet the needs of all women and babies, wherever and whoever they are, and that is why the Government continues in reforming, as well as investing in, maternity services.

'This week we are bringing together the best brains in maternity to launch our action plan for world class maternity services.' The maternity warning is part of a full report on the state of healthcare in England and Wales.

Sir Ian will present it to Parliament today, then discuss its findings with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

j.slack@dailymail.co.uk

The young wife who bled to death

A MOTHER bled to death within hours of giving birth to her first child after doctors failed to spot complications.

Premalatha Jeevagan, 27, right, suffered a massive internal haemorrhage after a routine Caesarean operation to deliver her daughter, Lathika, in May.

No senior obstetricians were on duty at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, where ten women have died in the past three years, and Mrs Jeevagan was being cared for by a locum, Dr Anita Jindal.

She failed to diagnose the problem, despite her patient's blood pressure plummeting and her heart rate accelerating, because all the blood was contained in her womb.

A consultant obstetrician was contacted at home but did not come to the hospital. He eventually performed an emergency operation on Mrs Jeevagan, an accountancy student, but it was too late.

The hospital issued a full apology to her family but her husband Selvaratnam, 34, of Greenford, North-West London, said last night: 'This hospital really let me down. They were so ignorant when I was in the ward with my wife they weren't reacting in time.' 'It's over for the hospital, but not for me. When the child is growing up she will ask what happened to her mother and I will have to live with it all my life.'

Source: Daily Mail; London (UK)

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