Latest news with #maternitycare
Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Times
Black women ‘denied pain relief' on NHS maternity wards
Black women are being subjected to racist treatment on NHS maternity wards, the health secretary has said. Wes Streeting spoke out about the care of ethnic minority pregnant women before a new report, due to be published on Monday, which will detail shocking examples of discrimination and poor treatment. This includes women being denied pain relief, such as an epidural, and being told by midwives and doctors they are 'strong black women', according to the report by Fivexmore, a community interest company founded by two mothers in 2019. Its name comes from statistical estimates at the time that black women were five times more likely to die in pregnancy, during birth, or after their baby was born than white women. Today black women are 2.3 times more likely to die than white women in pregnancy, labour and after giving birth, which means one black woman dies in every 3,500 births, compared with one white woman dying in every 8,200 births. Speaking at the maternity safety summit in London on Wednesday, Streeting said the NHS has 'a problem with racism' affecting both staff and patients. He said: 'Stick a race lens on top of it and you find yourself in a position I have been in, of listening to black women whose children have died in the care of the NHS, telling me that when they asked why they didn't get sufficient pain relief, they were told: 'I just assumed you were a strong black woman.' Or the Asian mothers, one of whom said she was accused of being a diva. 'I'm afraid we have, despite the fact that Windrush arrived the same year that the NHS was founded [in 1948], a problem with racism. Both in terms of the experience of our staff and the bullying that goes on in the NHS and the lack of career progression, we also have a real problem in terms of the treatment of patients as well.' One mother told researchers: 'I asked for pain relief but was told they had no gas and air on my ward despite me seeing others have it. They gave me a paracetamol and told me I wasn't in labour. My baby was born ten minutes later.' • One in six maternity units closed in past decade Some women described overt racism from staff: 'The nurses seemed more receptive and caring to my non-black counterparts in the ward. For me, they did the bare minimum … the difference was crystal clear.' Another said: 'I was told I didn't need anything stronger than paracetamol. Meanwhile, a non-black patient in the same bay was given gas and air immediately.' Overall, the study of 845 pregnant women found a quarter had experienced race discrimination during their care between July 2021 and March this year. Almost a quarter, 23 per cent, did not receive the pain relief they requested at all and 40 per cent of these women were given no explanation. While a majority, 60 per cent, described their care during childbirth as good, they went on to describe examples of poor care, which the report authors warned suggested a 'worrying normalisation of substandard treatment'. The respondents were mostly degree educated and had higher than average earnings. Professor Marian Knight, from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, said there had been improvements in the rate of black women dying. She said: 'The rates are decreasing but it is not a statistically significant decrease. The ratio between black and white women is now 2.3 times and that is only partly explained by an increase in maternal mortality rates for white women. So there are improvements happening, but [the rate] is still obviously way too high.' Knight said that one of her bigger concerns was the level of severe complications during and after childbirth experienced by black women, which was 60 per cent higher in black women than white women. Tinuke Awe, co-founder of Fivexmore, said: 'We found 60 per cent of women rated their care as good, but when you dig deeper, the reality just doesn't match. There is clearly a disconnect between expectations of women and the reality of what's happening, and just accepting substandard care and thinking that that's OK. That should never be normalised.' Awe co-founded the company after a traumatic experience when giving birth to her son, Ezekiel, in 2017 and signs of her pre-eclampsia were not acted on. Pre-eclampsia is a condition that causes high blood pressure during pregnancy and can be dangerous for mother and baby. Ezekiel was born healthy, but the experience inspired Awe to act. The government has announced a maternity investigation of ten hospital trusts alongside a national taskforce that will be personally chaired by Streeting in an effort to improve care. It is understood the care of black women will feature as a key area for improvement. Streeting has said that improving maternity services is a 'litmus test' for his wider agenda of rebuilding the NHS.
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Couple feel vindicated by critical report into maternity care
A mother who played a key part in pushing for change in a health board's maternity care said she felt vindicated following the publication of a report highlighting Channon's son Gethin was disabled due to failings made during his birth in 2019."It's been a long journey for us, battling to get acknowledgement for what has been going on at Swansea. All the way up to Welsh government level we have been fighting."An assessment of all maternity services in Wales will now have an independent chair following the head of the Birth Trauma Association said it needed to take a thorough look at the culture of maternity units. Mrs Channon said she and her husband Rob "have frequently been brushed off" and ignored, however they now feel the health board has added that an unreserved apology "goes a long way to mend bridges with families who have felt adrift".Rob Channon added: "We do have faith that the new leadership want to make change, we just have to give them time. "If they don't make changes, we will have to hold them accountable for that."Maternity services across the UK have come under the spotlight, with the health secretary in England announcing "a rapid national investigation" into NHS maternity and neonatal services, following a series of maternity scandals going back more than a who support families that have experienced birth trauma argue the same mistakes were being made, with little sign that lessons were being learned. Julia Reynolds heads up legal firm Leigh Day in Wales, and as a medical negligence specialist said the issues had not changed in years."I see cases from all of the health boards across Wales and the issues we see are similar," she said."I have significant concerns about the quality of maternity care across Wales."The review of care in Swansea found that debriefs with families and responses to complaints lacked Reynolds said after losing a baby many families struggle to deal with being told "it was one of those things"."While staff might feel they're doing the right thing by potentially offering reassurance to families, what that really does is just leave those parents without answers, and really nagging doubts.""I do believe it's a disservice to families and I think it's really important for families to have answers, to understand what went wrong and even more importantly, for those children to get that early treatment to get the better outcome." The independent review into care at Swansea Bay included testimony from women who felt vulnerable, brushed off when they raised concerns, and as a result felt guilty for not speaking up for themselves women spoke of a lack of compassion, others felt belittled, and birthing partners felt powerless or called for improvements to the complaints process in Wales to make it less rigid and more Bay health board apologised unreservedly "to all women and families whose care has fallen well below the expected standard" and was working on an improvement Welsh government also apologised, and accepted all recommendations in full. Director of the Royal College of Midwives in Wales, Julie Richards, said the written policies, frameworks and statements from the Welsh government set out positive intentions."However, they cannot be achieved without investment and proper workforce planning."Over the past number of years reports and reviews into maternity services in Wales are sadly flagging the same key issues that are impacting the delivery of safe care, understaffing, underfunding, working culture and not enough emphasis or time for crucial multi-disciplinary training."Our members are seeing a rise in more complex pregnancies, with women requiring more specialist support during pregnancy so it's never been more important to get this right." A big theme from the report into care given in Swansea Bay was that women were not listened to."It's very easy sometimes for staff to dismiss a woman who's distressed as being over-dramatic," said Kim Thomas, from the Birth Trauma Association."We hear quite a lot that women are told they're making too much of a fuss. But when they try to remain calm there's an assumption there's probably nothing wrong."It creates real problems for women. This is where listening comes in - if a woman says she thinks something's wrong, then actually listen to her."The issues were all the more pressing given the disparities experienced by black women across the mortality is almost four times higher than that of white women, with significant disparities for Asian and mixed ethnicity women too. Umyima Sunday said she experienced good care when she delivered her second child at Singleton hospital two years ago, but her labour progressed so quickly she delivered her daughter on the ward."Even in pain, I'm really calm," said the 33-year-old, who moved to Swansea from Nigeria to study a post-graduate course in public health three years ago."I would say they were looking at me thinking, 'she's not in so much pain'."But a woman that has gone through that before knows how her body reacts. They didn't really understand that I was really in pain and needed them at that time."She said that while staff were listening, they lacked urgency, meaning no one was there to guide her through contractions and when to push."I just wanted the baby out and couldn't think properly - if I had someone beside me, guiding me through the process, I would have avoided the tears I had during the process." Perpetua Ugwu, 34, also considered her labour to be "smooth and straight forward" for her second child, and "nurses and midwives attended to me very well".Though she was initially told over the phone to "exercise a little bit of patience" when she told staff labour had started."If I had waited a little longer I would have given birth at home. If I hadn't taken that step to go into the hospital I would have delivered at home, because they didn't believe that my labour was there."But I knew what I was feeling and I knew that my labour is not long, it's usually short."Her waters broke in the taxi to hospital and her baby was born around 30 minutes said if she could change one thing it would be to "take away that stereotype of black women being able to tolerate pain more."We all go through labour in different ways, but if someone complains she is feeling pain or not feeling well, the best they can do is give the person attention. Don't let them wait a little longer."
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Swansea Bay maternity changes demanded after critical review
Repeated failures in the quality of maternity care and governance at a health board have been highlighted in an independent review was commissioned after complaints by families, as well as concerns about the number of deaths of babies and mothers between 2018 and staffing improvements there remain "further actions to be urgently progressed," according to Dr Denise Chaffer, the chairwoman of the review into Swansea Bay health Morgan, 39, whose son suffered a brain injury during birth, said: "How many more babies and families need to suffer before even small change happens?" Swansea Bay health board previously issued an unconditional apology to the families who had been many women had a "mostly positive experience", the review said, some still have "a considerably poor or traumatic experience".It added: "Some go further and describe instances of severe birth trauma, some of which have occurred in the last year." These included a lack of compassion, feeling ignore and staff's failure to listen, while there were also "language barriers and lack of cultural awareness" for people from different authors want changes to the complaints process in Wales to make it "less rigid and more compassionate" as well as mental health support for women and said funding for rapid access psychological support for women and their birthing partners should be considered by the Welsh weaknesses at Swansea Bay were identified between 2021 and 2024, though it noted "some evidence of improvements", the report said "translating high-level changes into tangible improvements on the ground remains a challenge". Mr Morgan's wife needed an emergency caesarean when their son was born as she was being treated for was treated at Singleton Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit for a brain injury sustained during birth."It was probably one of the worst points of my life as I thought that both my son and my wife were going to die that day," Mr Morgan said.A year after his son's birth, the couple received a letter from the health board following an internal investigation into the care she received that found "several major issues that contributed to what happened to him" and suggested the family contact a solicitor."You go from thinking it was just bad luck to being angry and you want to find people accountable," Mr Morgan added."I'm riddled with trauma. Our family is riddled with the negative experience of what's happened. It's not something you just forget - you live with it."When you hear about it happening to other people it affects you all over again. But this isn't about us as a family, this is about the wider picture and there are things that can be done now that can help change future outcomes and that's on the government to do."Because ultimately if you're not changing something, if you're not instrumental in in resolving this pan-Wales, pan-UK issue, then you're complicit."You're complicit in every negative outcome, every near miss, every bereavement that every family goes through - it's on you."How many more babies and families need to suffer before even small change happens?" The report made a number of recommendations, including:A major focus on improving triage qualityImproving the quality of investigations and involve families and external inputHaving compassionate and trauma-informed careFoetal monitoring training for all maternity staffThere were also a number of recommendations to Welsh government, including the revision of the complaints guidance and mental health support for women and families. Dr Chaffer said: "There is still much to be done to improve maternity and neonatal services and this report serves as a call to action for the health board to do more to rapidly improve the experiences of those who use these services."The work of this review does not and must not stop here. The health board must ensure this conversation continues until all changes are made and sustained improvements are demonstrated for the women and families of Swansea Bay." In December 2023 Healthcare Inspectorate Wales found Singleton Hospital's maternity unit failed to meet safe staffing levels over four years and had insufficient measures to stop baby staff were recruited, but it was placed into enhanced monitoring by the Welsh government.A subsequent independent review was announced but criticism from families prompted the first chairwoman to step May, the body representing patients in Wales, Llais, published its own review after speaking with more than 500 women who had given heard about failings in safety, quality of care and respect at almost every stage of the process, with some women deciding not to have more children as a prompted an apology from health board chairwoman Jan Williams and Health Secretary Jeremy Miles, who added that an assessment of the safety and quality of all maternity units in Wales would be carried out.
Irish Times
10-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Families at centre of Portiuncula review call into question viability of service
Families at the centre of a review into maternity care at Portiuncula University Hospital have called into question the 'ongoing viability' of the service after a review found the way in which it operates 'is no longer sustainable'. A Health Service Executive report published on Wednesday summarised five reviews of care provided to women and their babies at the Co Galway hospital, and found there were 'significant clinical risks' at the maternity unit. It found the issues at the hospital 'could plausibly arise in other similar sized maternity units'. Other small maternity hospitals include the ones in South Tipperary, Kerry, Portlaoise, Sligo, Mayo, Kilkenny and Cavan. Following the publication of the review, expectant mothers who have higher-risk pregnancies will have their antenatal care moved to other maternity units in the area, the HSE announced. READ MORE Ciaran Tansey, a partner at Damien Tansey Solicitors, which represents a number of affected families, said the summary report has raised questions for them about whether the Ballinasloe maternity unit should continue to operate at all. 'The deficiencies in Portiuncula hospital's maternity service have clearly been there for some time, but they remained either undetected or not adequately acted upon,' he said. 'The families are left with the impression that remedial steps seem to only follow adverse events having occurred at the hospital. But where was the proactivity that was needed, in particular by the newborns and their families?' Mr Tansey added: 'At present the view is that the ongoing viability of Portiuncula hospital's maternity service has been called into question.' The expert group that reviewed the Galway hospital said it delivered 1,400 babies annually. It said a unit of such size 'cannot provide the full range of maternity and newborn services'. The expert group said it strongly recommended a review into the way maternity services are delivered across the country. There were four 'common themes of concern', which are: communication; governance; clinical care, leadership and clinical governance; and infrastructure. Since January, a total of 12 reviews have been announced into the care given to women and babies at the Ballinasloe hospital following a number of incidences of neonatal encephalopathy (NE) requiring therapeutic hypothermia (known as neonatal cooling) being identified in a short time period. Five of these reviews have been completed, five are under way and a further two are due to begin. Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the concern about maternity care was 'specific to Portiuncula'. The hospital demonstrated 'a much higher than expected rate of requirement for Caesarean sections and cooling of the baby. This was a specific issue,' she said. The report published on Wednesday comes after a similar document, known as the Walker report, in 2018 found issues of a similar nature. Since then, the Minister said, there had been a 100 per cent increase in the number of obstetric consultants and a 25 per cent increase in the number of midwives at Portiuncula. 'The report has been implemented, and increased resources were provided yet there is still a problem. We have to respond to that problem from a patient safety perspective. High-risk pregnancies are being moved to Galway,' she said. According to the HSE, factors that contribute to higher-risk pregnancies include previous loss of a baby, history of significant medical disease, history of massive obstetric haemorrhage, obesity and maternal age. Women considered likely to deliver their baby before 35 weeks' pregnancy will also have their care moved from Portiuncula, it said. The HSE said it was committed to implementing the 34 recommendations contained in the reviews and had established an implementation team.
BBC News
04-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Hartlepool hospital baby delivery restart 'reviewed monthly'
A pause in the delivery of babies at a hospital, caused by staff shortages and illness, is being reviewed monthly by health midwife-led Rowan Suite maternity unit at the University Hospital of Hartlepool became fully operational in late 2020 and has since delivered 113 Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust bosses announced a three-month pause in "intrapartum care" - the period during labour and delivery - at the site in May due to "staffing absences".But Steph Worn, director of midwifery, said they will be reviewing the decision "month by month", with no fixed date set for restarting deliveries. Ms Worn told a meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council's audit and governance committee that hospital bosses are "fully committed" to providing the service and are "continuously reviewing" the to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, antenatal and postnatal care are continuing as normal during the period, as well as home births. Group nursing officer Emma Nunez said: "It's obviously very dependent on our current workforce and the vacancies and the sickness absences we've got at the minute, so it's hard to put a time limit on that."Health officers claimed the pause in intrapartum care will have "quite a small impact on the Hartlepool population", with the Rowan Suite previously only taking bookings for pregnancies considered to be "low risk".Figures presented to the meeting for a recent 18-month period stated 4,000 births occurred in the trust area, with 32% of women from a Hartlepool these, 97% of deliveries occurred at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton and about 1% were at the Rowan Suite. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
