The number of clinical claims made against the NHS for stillbirths rose from 129 cases in 2019/20 to 200 cases in 2023/2024 – a 55 per cent increase – data obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests shows.
Between 2019 and 2024, some 737 stillbirths were investigated by the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations Programme (MNSI), with almost two-thirds of those reports – equating to 485 stillbirths – leading to safety recommendations being made to healthcare providers, according to the FOI data obtained by law firm Forbes Solicitors.
NHS officials said the stillbirths reported to MNSI is only a small proportion and likely to be ones where there are concerns about care.
“During the past three years, there’s been very little change in how many MSNI reports have led to safety recommendations being made to healthcare providers. This raises questions about whether learnings are being taken on board and shared to address issues and enhance maternity care standards.”
“MNSI’s work is valuable, and many of their recommendations rightly respond to specific safety concerns,” Titcombe told The i Paper. “But across multiple investigations, we’re seeing common themes emerging again and again. There’s a real need for MNSI to go further – by making recommendations that address weaknesses in the maternity system as a whole, not just at the level of individual trusts.”
MBRRACE-UK, a national program in the UK responsible for monitoring and investigating the causes of maternal and infant deaths has been collecting data since 2013, when the stillbirth rate in England was 4.27 per 1,000 births. It declined to 3.33/1000 births in 2019 and was at 3.27/1000 in 2023 – according to its latest State of the Nation report.
Titcombe said this reduction was encouraging but well below the Government’s target for a 50 per cent reduction by 2025.
‘I woke up to be told my daughter had died’
Amie enjoyed a “really beautiful pregnancy” with her baby Ava but was “really let down” during labour.
“That put me in a little bit of a panic,” Amie said. “I went home and started labour at about 3am on the Monday, which was a shock but we were due to be induced on the Wednesday – 41 weeks on the dot.”
Over the next 48 hours, she was told to “go and have a bath” and take some paracetamol. “I must have been in and out of that bath every two hours,” Amie said.
Amie said she was speaking out in the hope lessons would be learned from her tragic experience.Amie was eventually booked in for an induction the following morning and sent home without pain relief. A few hours later, she noticed some spotting – fresh blood – and returned to hospital, but it was too late.
Amie was able to hear her daughter Ava’s heartbeat before she was taken into surgery for an emergency C-section.
Amie woke up in recovery and was told her daughter had not survived. She was allowed to hold Ava for a few minutes. Andrew was in a different room and staff did not allow him to see his daughter or his wife until Amie had woken up. “That must have been excruciating for him… It’s absolutely diabolical really.”
Amie said she was speaking out in the hope of helping others and that lessons can be learned from the tragedy. “I do hope things will change. How much, I don’t know… It’s happening all too often, to too many people all over the country. It needs to change.”
Lib Dem Primary Care and Hospitals spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller said: “It is appalling that maternity deaths are rising even after the years of concern over the state of services that has led to so many scandals with deadly consequences.”
The number of families taking legal action against the NHS for obstetrics errors rose to a record of nearly 1,400 a year in 2023, double the number in 2007, according to FOI figures obtained by The Guardian. About half of the 1,400 claims a year may not result in compensation payouts, so the amount paid out would be lower. However, compensation only accounts for part of the total £27bn figure, a larger share being legal costs
Read Next
square MATERNITY SERVICES ExclusiveRead More
NHS Resolution, the organisation that handles negligence claims for the NHS trusts in England, recorded in its most recent annual report last week that the cost of settling all maternity-related claims was £37.5bn. The figure, relating to claims which may have been made up to several years ago, amounts to nearly two-thirds of its total £60bn clinical negligence liabilities bill, a sum described by senior MPs as “jaw-dropping”.
“We are committed to changing this,” they added. “We are taking immediate steps to strengthen maternity services, including closer oversight of underperforming trusts, and will work with the independent investigation to ensure we learn from its findings and deliver the comprehensive changes that women and families need and deserve.”
‘Rapid’ national inquiry launched
Speaking at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ (RCOG) annual conference in June, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the inquiry would urgently look at the 10 worst-performing services in the country, as well as the entire maternity system.
Millard said: “We often find parents aren’t aware of maternity healthcare issues until they’ve been told that an investigation is being carried out. In many cases, parents will be suffering immense grief, and although they may have an inkling that something went wrong during their care, it’s difficult to process this until they see it validated in a report.
The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
Hence then, the article about baby deaths warning as inadequate maternity care found in hundreds of stillbirths was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Baby deaths warning as inadequate maternity care found in hundreds of stillbirths )
Also on site :