Latest news with #neonatalunit
ABC News
2 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
Labor to change law after mother's paid parental leave was cancelled when baby died
For six weeks, tiny Priya fought for her life in the neonatal intensive care unit in a Sydney hospital. It was June 3, 2024 when — at not even 25 weeks — she arrived in the world nearly three months early — and left unbearably soon. Despite her premature birth, she had been surprising doctors with how strong she was. But on day 42, little Priya ran out of fight. "One dreaded Sunday, we were just shocked when she was unwell and she passed away," her mother said through tears. "It was the worst day of our lives. "I've never felt such pain, you just feel like screaming … it's almost like a primal feeling." Five days into grappling with her daughter's death, Priya's mother — who asked not to be named — says she called her employer of 11 years to tell them of her loss. Flowers, teddy bears and condolences from colleagues arrived, but after a text exchange with her employer that lasted another five days, she received a message she found both shocking and distressing. It was her workplace notifying her that her three months of pre-approved paid parental leave (PPL) had been cancelled. Instead, her employer offered four weeks of personal leave — not even enough to cover Priya's time alive. Up until then, she had been using a mix of annual and long service leave, so never received a day of the three months of approved PPL through her employer. The government paid leave, however, did remain. Already, she was so overcome with grief she would wake up in the middle of the night crying and now she had a new problem on her hands. "They just escalated my grief and trauma even more than needed to be," she said. She had already begun to needlessly question her motherhood and her employer's decision just compounded that. "I was thinking maybe I really must not be a mother — even my workplace is saying that," she said. After building a career in employment services, helping other people find work, she was now having to do the same, having quit after feeling such disrespect from her workplace towards her and her baby. Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth calls it a "gap" that needs to be fixed. "No parent should have their employer paid parental leave cancelled in the event of a stillbirth or an early death of a child," she said. Spurred by the advocacy of Priya's parents, the federal government has committed to making the legislative change "swiftly," but has not put a timeline on it. Minister Rishworth said the law firstly needed to be drafted, then consulted on with employers, unions and Priya's parents. She said most employers continued to guarantee the leave in the circumstance of a stillbirth or early death of a child, but the government wanted to make sure "there is no grey area". "For those that it does affect, it is profound," she said. The government said the change would align the private sector with the Commonwealth scheme so employees are still entitled to the leave if their child is stillborn or if the baby dies while the employee is on PPL, or during a period in which they could have accessed it. In the year since Priya's passing, more than 31,000 people have signed an online petition to support the cause. On Friday, Priya's mum and dad met Minister Rishworth in Adelaide to show her the signatures. "In the name of Priya, other grieving parents will not need to go through the same pain that I did," her mother said. "I'm feeling so grateful to my daughter Priya … she's given me strength."
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Level 2 baby care status reinstated at Kettering General Hospital
A neonatal unit has regained approval to care for some of the region's most premature babies, following improvements in staffing and a downgrade in September 2023, the unit at Kettering General Hospital has now been fully reapproved to operate as a Level 2 Local Neonatal Unit. This meant staff can once again care for babies born after 27 weeks of gestation, or 28 weeks for multiple births, who weigh more than 800 Hogg, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire chief nurse, said: "We are committed to ensuring our neonatal unit delivers the best possible care to babies and families in our local community and ensuring that care is tailored to their needs." The unit was temporarily downgraded to Level 1 in 2023, which meant it could only care for babies born after 32 weeks. Babies born earlier or who were very sick had to be sent to specialist Level 3 decision was made after regular safety checks and staff feedback showed the unit needed more senior doctors and extra then, the hospital has made several important improvements, including hiring two neonatal consultants, a lead nurse for governance, a data analyst, and seven additional also took part in extra training sessions, including team-based practice for emergencies like resuscitation and managing breathing problems. 'Dedicated work' Leadership at the unit has also been strengthened, and links with regional neonatal care networks have been than 70% of the nurses were fully trained to care for very premature and unwell babies, meeting national standards set by the British Association of Perinatal Hogg added: "Once again, we are able to deliver intensive care, high dependency care, and special care to babies born after 27 weeks of gestation or 28 weeks if a multiple birth."I want to take this opportunity to thank our teams for all of the dedicated work and effort that has gone into achieving the improvements that have enabled us to start delivering level 2 care once again." Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- The Independent
Letby inquiry publication date pushed back to ‘early 2026'
The publication date of the inquiry report into how child serial killer Lucy Letby was able to commit her crimes on a hospital neonatal unit has been pushed back to 'early 2026'. Lady Justice Thirlwall had previously announced she hoped her findings from the public inquiry surrounding the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital would be released in November. However, a statement issued on the Thirlwall Inquiry website on Thursday said: 'The inquiry has written to core participants with an update on the progress of the final report. 'The chair, Lady Justice Thirlwall, is expected to send out warning letters from September 2025 and the final report will be completed by the end of November. The report will then undergo copy editing and typesetting, ahead of publication in early 2026.' So-called 'warning letters' are sent to those who may be subject to significant or explicit criticism in an inquiry report and allows them the chance to respond. The former nurse, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is considering evidence presented on her behalf from an international panel of medics who claim poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the babies collapsing. Lawyers for the families of Letby's victims have dismissed the panel's conclusions as 'full of analytical holes' and 'a rehash' of the defence case heard at trial. Letby, from Hereford, lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal, in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial. Cheshire Constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016. A separate probe by the force into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital also remains ongoing.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- BBC News
Lucy Letby: Thirlwall Inquiry report publication pushed back
The final report from the public inquiry which examined how serial killer Lucy Letby was able to commit her crimes on a hospital neonatal unit will not be published until "early 2026".The former nurse, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June Justice Thirlwall, the chair of the inquiry, had previously said she hoped her findings would be released in a statement issued on the Thirlwall Inquiry website said publication was now expected next year. Lady Thirlwall is expected to write to those criticised in the final report in September and the document is due to be completed by the end of November, according to the statement."The report will then undergo copy editing and typesetting, ahead of publication in early 2026," it added. Letby, from Hereford, lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is considering evidence presented on Letby's behalf from an international panel of medics who claim poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the babies for the families of Letby's victims have dismissed the panel's conclusions as "full of analytical holes" and "a rehash" of the defence case heard at Constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016.A separate probe by the force into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital also remains ongoing. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- The Guardian
Lucy Letby inquiry will release findings in early 2026, months later than planned
An official report on the deaths and unexplained collapses of babies at a hospital where nurse Lucy Letby worked will be published early next year, months later than originally planned. Lady Justice Thirlwall had previously said she hoped her findings from the public inquiry, to examine how the former nurse Lucy Letby was able to murder babies at the Countess of Chester hospital's neonatal unit, in north-west England, would be released in November. However, a statement issued on the Thirlwall Inquiry website on Thursday said: 'The inquiry has written to core participants with an update on the progress of the final report. 'The chair, Lady Justice Thirlwall, is expected to send out warning letters from September 2025 and the final report will be completed by the end of November. The report will then undergo copy editing and typesetting, ahead of publication in early 2026.' 'Warning letters' are sent to those who may be subject to significant or explicit criticism in an inquiry report and allows them the chance to respond. Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials at Manchester crown court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is considering evidence presented on her behalf from an international panel of experts who claim poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the babies collapsing. Lawyers for the families of Letby's victims have dismissed those conclusions as 'full of analytical holes' and 'a rehash' of the defence case heard at trial. Letby, from Hereford, lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the court of appeal, in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial. Cheshire constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's hospitals during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016. A separate probe by the force into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester hospital also remains ongoing.
