Damning report on maternity care released

A damning report on maternity care by the Public Accounts Committee suggests that women are being failed by NHS maternity services with more than 14 babies a day in England either stillborn or dying within seven days of their birth.  It said there were 5,183 such tragedies in England in 2011.

Separate data from the World Health Organisation reveals that the country’s stillbirth rate is 3.5 per 1,000 births. A performance which puts the UK in the lowest performing countries for maternity services which includes, Latvia, Bosnia and Romania.

The report found that there is too much variation in the quality of care offered by different trusts.  Many units are desperately understaffed – half do not have enough consultants and there is a truly worrying’ national shortage of 2,300 midwives.

Care is even worse at weekends when there are few senior doctors on duty and babies are more likely to suffer brain damage or spinal injury. In November, the National Audit Office found that babies born at weekends were 13 per cent more likely to come to harm.

The lack of consultants means maternity units tend to be staffed by junior doctors who may not act quickly enough during complicated births.