New mums at risk in the NHS?

A damning report into the death of a 28 year old new mother at a Kent hospital has again raised concerns regarding the treatment and care of pregnant women within the NHS. The coroner's enquiry into the woman's death was told that the delivery of the victim's baby daughter was blighted by a number of hospital blunders.

The investigation found that there was an unacceptable delay in inducing labour, failure to administer antibiotics before and after and emergency Caesarean Section was carried out and a failure to put an appropriate care plan and adequate observations in place.

The woman later died from sepsis as a result of an infection. The coroner said that the catalogue of errors by the hospital amounted to gross failures to provide the basic treatment and care that her medical condition required. The final verdict was death by natural causes contributed to by neglect; a damning indictment of the whole incident. As a result of the coroner's verdict, the woman's husband has now launched a negligence claim against the hospital and is suing the NHS.

The hospital has already offered the family its apologies and has carried out its own investigation into the incident. As a result, they claim to have made changes to practices and procedures to minimise the risk of a repeat incident. Obviously, this is small comfort to the family of the woman, but some may wonder why a claim for compensation is being pursued so quickly after the event. It is not a matter of mere financial gain, but shines a spotlight on the entire process followed by the hospital in the hope of revealing exactly what went wrong and to prevent it from happening to other families in the future.

Medical negligence cases are always traumatic, difficult and complex cases to bring. In the past, the NHS has been accused of 'closing ranks' against those who try to sue the NHS for medical negligence, but in this case the hospital has been genuinely apologetic and pro-active in locating the root cause of the tragedy. The family involved are certainly hoping that this openness will continue throughout the investigation and that lapses in what would be the expected standard of care for pregnant women will be addressed. Every birth is a risky time both for the mother and baby and things can and do go wrong which the NHS has no control over.

But shortages of nursing staff and midwives across the country has led to concerns that more new mothers are at risk of just such delays and mistakes purely because there are not enough staff on duty to adequately deal with situations within an acceptable time frame. The delay in inducing labour in what proved to be a difficult birth and subsequent failure to put an adequate care plan in place is a serious lapse in standard policy and procedure that, according to the coroner's report, could have been responsible for the woman's death.

Cases such as this are, fortunately, exceptionally rare in the modern NHS and the vast majority of women have a good hospital experience at a time when they are most vulnerable. But mistakes are made, and bringing a medical negligence case against the trust is often the most effective way to highlight shortcomings in a system where the consequences of poor clinical practice can result in the death of a patient. With continued concern over staffing levels, it seems that, unfortunately, medical negligence claims will continue to be the best way of forcing the NHS to make the changes needed to protect the vulnerable and frail in a clinical environment.