Health minister apologises as birth trauma report finds ‘shockingly poor quality’ maternity care
A health minister has apologised after a new report concluded that poor care in maternity services is “frequently tolerated as normal”.
The parliamentary inquiry found there was “shockingly poor quality” in maternity services, which resulted in care that lacked compassion and a system where “poor care is all too frequently tolerated as normal”.
The inquiry – led by Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour MP Rosie Duffield – considered evidence given by more than 1,300 women and is calling for a national plan to improve maternity care.
It has recommended that the government publish a National Maternity Improvement Strategy, led by a maternity commissioner who would report directly to the prime minister.
“We have made a set of recommendations that aim to address these problems and work towards a maternity system that is woman-centred and where poor care is the exception rather than the rule,” the report said.
“The poor quality of postnatal care was an almost-universal theme. Women shared stories of being left in
blood-stained sheets, or of ringing the bell for help but no one coming.”
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‘The joy was sucked out of having a baby’
Health minister Maria Caulfield told Sky News maternity services had not been where they should be and apologised to mothers who had been affected.
“I recognise that maternity services have not been where we want them to be, but there is lots of work happening in this space,” Ms Caulfield said.
“This has been a problem for a long time, and it is why maternity is a priority area in the women’s health strategy.”
She said the inquiry aims to get expectant mothers better care during their pregnancy, rather than wait until they are just about to give birth.
Some £1.1bn – more than a third of the NHS’ total maternity and neonatal budget – was spent on cash payments relating to clinical negligence in 2022/23, a Department of Health and Social Care report showed.
Other recommendations put forward by the report include retraining and recruiting more midwives, offering a separate six-week check post-delivery with a GP for all mothers, provide support for fathers or nominated birth partners and better educate women on birth choices.
It also recommends extending the time limit for medical negligence litigation relating to childbirth from three years
to five years.
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What is birth trauma?
Read more:
Women ‘failed at every stage’ of maternity care
Mother left with injuries after giving birth breaks ‘silence’
Grieving parents demand nationwide guidance after failings
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she was “determined to improve the quality and consistency of care for women throughout pregnancy, birth and the critical months that follow”.
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‘A lot more work needs to be done’
After her own experience of a traumatic birth, Sandra Igwe set up the Motherhood group and has spent the past eight years campaigning. She expected when she gave birth earlier this year for the third time, the outcome would be different.
“Sadly, the third time around, again, my concerns were dismissed and I was made to wait several days to give birth after being induced, and that added to my anxiety,” she told Sky News correspondent Shamaan Freeman-Powell.
Sandra Igwe has spent the last eight years campaigning for better maternity services
“It has shown me there is a lot more work to be done.”
She is now working with Councillor Evelyn Akoto, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, to get the experiences of women from diverse backgrounds in a maternity commission.
Cllr Akoto also had her own experience of being dismissed and ignored during labour, she said the statistics black and ethnic minority women face are “horrifying”
Councillor Evelyn Akoto is working to get the experiences of women from diverse backgrounds in a maternity commission
“I see myself and other black women as walking statistics. I see our lives in danger all the time.”
She says in order for quality of care to be improved across maternity service, inequalities need to bbe addressed. “If we get it right for those who are being negatively impacted, we get it right for everyone. So it’s important we all come together and resolve this” she says.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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