Latest news with #maternity
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Next rescues maternity brand favoured by Princess of Wales
Next has rescued a maternity brand favoured by the Princess of Wales weeks after the ailing firm crashed into administration. The British retail giant has paid £600,000 for the Seraphine brand and intellectual property. The maternity wear company's founder Cécile Reinaud will return as an adviser, having stepped down from the business in 2021. Next said the deal signalled 'a new chapter for the heritage British brand'. The company's clothes were worn by the Princess of Wales in 2013 for the first official family portrait following the birth of Prince George. Ms Reinaud said: 'I'm very happy to see Seraphine find a new home with Next, a British brand with so much heritage and customer trust that resonates with millions of women and families. 'This new ownership feels like a good fit and I believe Seraphine will thrive again.' Just weeks ago, the company was forced to make the majority of its 95 employees redundant after collapsing into administration after failing to find a buyer for the whole business. Ms Reinaud had been critical of the stewardship of the business by private equity firm Mayfair Equity Partners, which she sold the business to. Writing on LinkedIn earlier this year, after Seraphine launched a new logo, she said: 'My original vision was to create clothes you'd want to wear even if you weren't pregnant. That guiding principle seems to have vanished now. 'Seraphine was once a proud example of British fashion entrepreneurship, recipient of two Queen's Awards: now, it seems to have lost its recognisable identity.' Mayfair defended the rebrand at the time as 'a hugely exciting moment for Seraphine, with the unveiling of its enhanced website and refreshed brand identity that incorporated consumer desire for a modernised look and feel.' Seraphine listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 with a value of £150m. However, it suffered a string of profit warnings and Mayfair Equity took it off the stock market in 2023. At that point, it was worth £15.3m. The company made an operating loss of £13m on revenues of £42m during its latest financial year. It then called in administrators at Interpath on July 7. Will Wright, the company's joint administrator, said: 'Unfortunately, the strong economic headwinds that have been impacting a number of the UK's high street and online retailers, including rising costs and brittle consumer confidence, have proved too challenging to overcome.'
CBC
7 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
Maternity health providers in B.C. lament shortage of qualified workers
Expectant parents in B.C. are facing maternity staffing shortages. As CBC's Hanna Petersen reports, maternity doctors say the existing workforce is spread too thin.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Next buys brand rights to Seraphine after royal favourite maternity brand's collapse
The Seraphine maternity brand favoured by the Princess of Wales has been saved by Next. The firm, whose dresses and other clothes were worn by Kate during her pregnancies, crashed into administration this month with the loss of 95 jobs after failing to find a buyer. Next has bought the brand and intellectual property for £600,000 in a deal that will see Seraphine founder Cecile Reinaud brought back as an adviser. Reinaud set up the firm in 2002, but sold it for £50million to private equity group Mayfair in December 2020. Following its collapse this month, she said she was 'heartbroken' and accused its owners of 'wiping out in four years, the work of 20 years'. Reinaud said: 'This new ownership feels like a good fit and I believe Seraphine will thrive again. I'm excited to be part of this new chapter.'
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Nottingham maternity families 'cross' after meeting with NHS leaders
Families involved in the biggest independent inquiry into NHS maternity services say they still want answers after meeting with local leaders. On Wednesday, parents of children who were harmed or died following failings in care at two hospitals in Nottingham met with officials from the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) for the first said they were "very surprised" to have had to request to meet a statement after the meeting, the ICB said it was "humbled and saddened by the experiences shared by the families". Hundreds of babies have died or been injured while under the care of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, which runs the departments at City Hospital and Queen's Medical 2,500 cases are currently being examined in a review chaired by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, who also presided over Wednesday's were created in July 2022, taking over the role of managing budgets and local services from clinical commissioning groups, which were established in and Dr Jack Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet was stillborn in 2016 following maternity failings at Nottingham City Hospital, were among those at the meeting."We are very surprised that they have not reached out to us before - in fact we asked for this meeting," said Dr Hawkins added: "This meeting has demonstrated basically how horrific it is, their lack of awareness."Families have left the meeting cross, and questioning their competency."ICB chief executive Amanda Sullivan said the board has "committed to supporting and challenging the trust to drive improvements to maternity care"."We welcome the questions the families raised and commit to answering these at a follow-up meeting soon," she said.
CBC
20 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
Expectant parents face uncertainty amid B.C.-wide maternity staffing shortages
Prince George residents Christine and Lauren Kennedy are excited to welcome their first child together, but are now one of the many couples from across British Columbia facing uncertainty as the province grapples with a shortage of obstetrical specialists. Lauren, who is 39 weeks pregnant with her first child, said she was frightened to learn that gaps in maternity department physician scheduling at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. (UHNBC) in Prince George could potentially force her to be sent hundreds of kilometres away for care. Prince George is the largest service centre in northern B.C. and often provides health-care services for the entire region. "You don't think in a community of this size that this is something that you would have to be dealing with, and on top of all the other things that come with being a new parent," said Lauren. "It is really challenging not being able to know what to expect." On July 21, Northern Health said that starting in August, it would be experiencing a shortage of obstetrical specialists and warned that gaps in coverage could lead to "high-risk" patients being transferred to other hospitals in the province. Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna and Dawson Creek are among the many communities in the B.C. Interior facing maternity service disruptions. Despite recent efforts by the province to train and recruit more workers, Health Minister Josie Osborne says challenges to fill staff shortages remain. "I think there is a possibility that we will see that kind of strain on services elsewhere," Osborne said at a July 21 news conference. Christine and Lauren said they aren't sure exactly what to do and have been taking the situation day by day. "We don't want to lose sight that we are quite privileged and we can, you know, figure it out when it comes to this, but there will be a lot of families that wouldn't be able to as well," said Christina. "We both grew up here. This is our community. We want our daughter to be born here, and it's pretty sad to think that she might need to go elsewhere." Local doctors scrambling to find coverage It's not just parents who are worried about gaps in coverage, but the people who provide maternity care as well. Dr. Kasandra Joss, the acting practitioner-obstetric lead at UHNBC, says her colleagues have been panic-stricken, and she's been in emergency meetings with obstetrical providers to find coverage for the month of August. "It's a whole lot of confusion, and it's really bogged all of us down in our offices trying to explain to patients what this means," she said. Joss says one physician rearranged her holidays, and two physicians from other communities agreed to come and help provide coverage. While health authorities have issued assurances that everyone who needs care will receive it, Joss calls he situation "terrifying." She said these doctors have stepped in because they can't risk the health and safety of the communities they serve, but warned the existing medical workforce is being spread too thin. "It is absolutely the most stressful thing that any of us has been through," she said. "The wording of these things is like, only if you're 'a high-risk patient' [will you be sent away], and it just gives these false reassurances to patients. We can't guarantee that we're going to be able to deliver them safely in the current circumstances." She says high-risk pregnancies can include anyone who's never had a baby before, people with larger body sizes, women who are over the age of 35 or 40, people who've had a previous C-section, or if an ultrasound shows the baby being too big or too small. "The thing is, so-called low-risk women become high risk at the drop of a dime." Joss says the services affected by the lack of obstetricians are extensive and include epidurals, induction of labour, vacuums for stuck babies, severe tearing and placental removal. She says she's also extremely anxious about transferring women to other hospitals in emergency situations. "Anybody that's ever worked in the hospital and had to deal with the patient transfer network knows the system is also pretty overloaded, and it's hard to get people out in a timely fashion," she said. "And sometimes it's not safe to transfer a woman. If she's too far along in her labour, you can't risk putting that woman in the air because in the air makes everything worse medically." Recruitment challenges Health Minister Josie Osborne acknowledged the anxiety the disruptions and threat of disruptions are causing families, and said that no one in need of care would be turned away when a birth is imminent. "The health authorities are working very hard trying to find locums and assistance, helping to fill those gaps where that exists and ensure the services are there for people that we will continue to do that work," she said on July 21. Dr. Ronald Chapman, vice president of medicine for Northern Health, said they have been working on recruiting additional obstetricians at UHNBC while trying to cover gaps in services. "With any service interruption we do have, we are continually recruiting and looking at creative ways and means to fill any service gaps we do have, and that is fluid and that can change," he said. "I'm very pleased to say at least we've got some obstetricians in the pipeline, especially for Prince George, so we are actively working with some of those physicians to see if we can successfully recruit them to Prince George." Joss says her department is currently staffed by three full-time equivalent obstetricians, but they were only given approval by Northern Health to recruit up to eight positions after a 12-hour service disruption in May. "'I've been dying to, you know, inform the public about what's happening with our system just so that it gives patients time to kind of think about what it is they want to do." She says they've already been interviewing candidates, but have run into administrative challenges and delays with licensing international medical graduates through the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC. Joss says she's worried about coverage in September if they are not able to expedite licensing. Expectant parents Christine and Lauren say they are trying to handle the situation as best they can, but feel like they are navigating a system failure. "In pregnancy, I've been lucky. We've been lucky that it's been pretty uncomplicated, but it is really frustrating that this is something that we even have to deal with," said Lauren. "It's placing a lot of stress on a situation that is already so unknown and unpredictable."
