Maternity Safety: still a concern
1 April 2025
Whilst some improvements have been made, there are still challenges within the UK concerning the best care for mothers and babies. We are still hearing of reviews in maternity hospitals and outcomes expressing avoidable harm being caused. The concerns include the care for expectant mothers, their babies and treatment post delivery.
Investigations into units in Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent have found poor care contributed to babies dying or having life changing injuries. There are also concerns around maternity services at Singleton Hospital in Swansea; there is a review taking place which was commissioned in 2023. The UK remains one of the safest places to give birth and pregnancy and the birth of your child should be one of joy and celebration, however it would seem to be somewhat of a lottery to obtain adequate and safe care.
The Care Quality Commission highlighted in their report of National review of maternity services in England 2022 to 2024 (https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/maternity-services-2022-2024) that whilst there was pockets of excellent practice, they are concerned that too many women and babies are not receiving the high quality maternity care they deserve. They state “Of the 131 locations we inspected between August 2022 and December 2023, almost half were rated as requires improvement (36%) or inadequate (12%). Only 4% of services were rated as outstanding and 48% were rated as good. At 12 locations, ratings for being well-led dropped by 2 ratings levels and at 11 locations, ratings for being safe dropped by 2 levels. The safety of maternity services remains a key concern, with no services inspected as part of our inspection programme rated as outstanding for being safe.” The reason for this standard they attributed to includes staffing shortages, problems with equipment not working, poor pain management, delays in emergency C-sections, inconsistencies in the way safety incidents were monitored and recorded, including major emergencies incorrectly recorded as causing low or no harm, delays in triage and not being prioritised correctly. Concern was also raised with evidence of discrimination against those belonging to ethnic minorities.
The MBRRACE report (2020-2022) (https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/data-brief/maternal-mortality-2020-2022) commissioned by NHS England into maternal, newborn and infant healthcare quality indicated that there has been no improvement in maternal and infant mortality including still births since their last report in 2019-21. This is a worrying statistic that even shows figures have got worse since the report in 2017-19. Worryingly it also stated “There remains an almost three-fold difference in maternal mortality rates amongst women from Black ethnic backgrounds compared to White women. The maternal mortality rate for Black women has decreased from 2019-21 but not statistically significantly so. The apparent disparity has decreased largely due to an increase in the maternal mortality rate amongst White women. As in 2019-21 there remains an almost two-fold difference amongst women from Asian ethnic backgrounds compared to White women.” It alo states “Women living in the most deprived areas have a maternal mortality rate more than twice as high as women living in the least deprived areas. This disparity is statistically unchanged from 2019-2021.”
It is clear changes must be made to improve maternity safety both for the mother and child. The government is supporting the House of Lord Preterm Birth Committees report (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldpreterm/30/3002.htm) and it is hope that this will reduce pre term births and improve health outcomes for babies. Additionally, the NHS 10 year Plan is underway and it is hoped that his will help to drive change for maternity improvements. It is still open for people to state their priorities for change until 5pm on Monday 14th April, see https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/projects/your-priorities-for-change
However unless the NHS is funded the most pressing concerned noted by the RCOG is the severe understaffing in maternity wards. They note that many obstetricians report feeling overwhelmed, constantly firefighting to prevent adverse outcomes. The blog from the President of the RCOG states that “one obstetrician saying that their unit is “avoiding bad outcomes by the skin of our teeth”, and another talking about “constant firefighting and choosing the least bad option.” Others raised concerns about lack of trust in the maternity system, with women, particularly Black and Asian women and those from disadvantaged groups, not feeling safe, and in some cases, not having a safe outcome.” (https://www.rcog.org.uk/news/presidents-blog-january-2025/)
The RCOG state they will continue to build a strong case for the Government to prioritise recruitment, retention and training in the maternity workforce.
At Redkite we have a strong presence across Wales and the South West of England and support women who have claims where either they or their babies have been harmed. We are representing mothers whose babies have sustained brain injury and Cerebral Palsy and have been able to obtain substantial interim payments for them to support their child during the litigation process to enable therapies, care and housing to be purchased.
It is concerning that Swansea Bay Health Board following Singleton hospital being put under enhanced monitoring by the Welsh Government in December 2023 are facing criticism by families and from an eminent lead investigator into maternity scandals. It is reported that the senior midwife Donna Ockenden who has undertaken previous maternity reviews has said the independent review being undertaken by Swansea Bay University Health Board is “not fit for purpose” and should be “closed” immediately. It is reported that families that have been affected by care at the hospital feel ignored by the review and re not part of the process.
It is reported by Sky News that a spokesperson for the Swansea Bay University Health Board said: “We commissioned an independent review of our maternity and neonatal services in December 2023. This is now underway and progress updates will be provided regularly over the coming months, including how the review is engaging with families and staff. The review will also shortly publish its own website, which will be used to keep families up to date.”
At Redkite we are concerned that still, not all mothers and babies are receiving the care they deserve and should expect, when care goes wrong the effects upon the mother and or baby and family can be devastating and life changing. It can only be hoped that the recent reports highlighting poor care can bring about change and outcomes can be improved for all.
This article was written by Redkite Solicitors, Madeleine Pinschof. To find out more about Madeleine and the support that she can provide to you, visit her website profile here: https://www.redkitesolicitors.co.uk/team/madeleine-pinschof/
The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.